The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things... It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads.

Before the war it was always the United States *are*, after the war it was the United States is... it made us an is.

If you want to study writing, read Dickens. That's how to study writing, or Faulkner, or D.H. Lawrence, or John Keats. They can teach you everything you need to know about writing.

People make a grievous error thinking that a list of facts is the truth. Facts are just the bare bones out of which truth is made.

When you grow up in a totally segregated society, where everybody around you believes that segregation is proper, you have a hard time. You can't believe how much it's a part of your thinking.

A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library.

As a Southerner I would have to say that one of the main importances of the War is that Southerners have a sense of defeat which none of the rest of the country has.

I think making mistakes and discovering them for yourself is of great value, but to have someone else to point out your mistakes is a shortcut of the process.

I abhor the idea of a perfect world. It would bore me to tears.

Longevity conquers scandal every time.

North was only a direction indicated by a compass--if a man had one, that is, for otherwise there was no north or south or east or west; there was only the brooding desolation.

All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites.

We laughed as we ducked behind a pile of snow. Then our brothers came charging through the barrier, sending the four of us sliding down a white slope full of cherished memories.

I can't determine the order of events. But I can trust God to guide my footsteps.

The rights of others often begins with the fight for justice of one.

If you do not know you can always ask, but if you do not know never answer wrong.

And in a world without heroes, as the movie trailer voice-over guy might say, the slightly awkward can be slightly cool.

Art is accusation, expression, passion. Art is black charcoal crushing white paper.

It's like, 'Sorry I passed you an STD but I really enjoy your quirky web presence.'

Once you've raced, you never forget it...and you never get over it.

The less the thought of the body, the better. For it is the body that drags us down.