Not long ago I made a list of Doc Ford books I would like to do, and I came up with 11 pretty easily. I like to let the characters go their own ways and see what happens. I find them fascinating.

The written word is the only anchor we have in life. How extraordinary would it be if we had even three or four paragraphs written honestly about their lives by our ancestors?

Any legitimate religion consists of rules of morality linked by love. That's it.

All the women in my family were superb cooks.

The tough thing about writing is you go into a room alone, you close the door and you do your work.

My aunts still try to fatten me up.

There's never a reason to trust someone. If there's a reason, then it's not trust.

Words are so very difficult to take back and forget. Memories fade with time, but words never do. They linger in our minds, our hearts, haunting us.

Keep in Mind to be Kind.

In the old days the studios guided your career. Now it's all up to you.

The unexpected and the incredible belong in this world. Only then is life whole.

A man who fears ridicule will never go far, for good or ill: he remains on this side of this talents, and even if he has genius, he is doomed to mediocrity.

If you're not having fun, your pictures will reflect that.

Beauties that from worth arise are like the grace of deities.

Work did bestow dignity, status, meaning. Wasn't that why people dreaded unemployment, why some men found retirement so traumatic?

Race prejudice decreases values, both real estate and human.