When poetry is on the money, 12 words can slay you. I admire that greatly.

Long, dark, and lovely she had been, in those days before her mind broke and the parts scattered and she let them go.

Fading light buttered the ridges until shadows licked them clean and they were lost to nightfall.

Never. Never ask for what ought to be offered.

The heart makes dreams seem like ideas.

He unscrewed the lid, set it on the dash, snorted from the bottle twice, banged the steering wheel, and said, 'You got to be ready to die every day - then you got a chance.'

Ree, brunette and sixteen, with milk skin and abrupt green eyes, stood bare-armed in a fluttering yellowed dress, face to the wind, her cheeks reddening as if smacked and smacked again.

I said shut up once already, with my mouth.

This is how sudden things happened that haunted forever.

The opening novel of the 'Bayou Trilogy' was the first one I finished.

I was not much used to women except for mothers. Everything I did, they did different.

I'll be back later! Put that champagne on ice!

Acquittal of the guilty damns the judge.

My mother was a terrific force in my life. Wartime-generation woman, hadn't gone to university but should have done. Was very funny, very verbal, very clever, very witty.

I could hardly be responsible for my actions when everyone around me gave me every opportunity to sink to their low expectations.

[Marilyn Monroe] was a bit temperamental, a little diva-like, but she didn't deserve what she got.

Everyone, in all walks of life, regardless of his professional occupation should feel concerned and play an active role to solve such problems which affect mankind.

Three rules: I do not eat too much; I do not worry too much; and, if I do my best, I believe that what happens, happens for the best.

Doing what you do well is death. Your duty is to keep trying to do things that you don't do well, in the hope of learning.

Messages about money are passed down from generation to generation, worn and chipped like the family dishes.

I think if you're a good songwriter, that's what you are first - not a star or celebrity.