"Today I must write a paragraph or a page better than I did yesterday." — Ernest Gaines

When I'm sitting in the church alone, I can hear singing of the old people. I can hear their singing and I can hear their praying, and sometimes I hum one of their songs.

In the beginning, I tried to be a more cosmopolitan writer, but I realized that I was a country boy, and I had to deal with things I knew about and where I came from.

There will always be men struggling to change, and there will always be those who are controlled by the past.

All writers write about the past, and I try to make it come alive so you can see what happened.

Words mean nothing. Action is the only thing. Doing. That's the only thing.

I was raised by a lady that was crippled all her life but she did everything for me and she raised me. She washed our clothes, cooked our food, she did everything for us. I don't think I ever heard her complain a day in her life. She taught me responsibility towards my brother and sisters and the community.

Question everything. Every stripe, every star, every word spoken. Everything.

Grace under pressure isn't just about bullfighters and men at war. It's about getting up every day to face a job or a white boss you don't like but have to face to feed your children so they'll grow up to be a better generation.

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Today I must write a paragraph or a page better than I did yesterday.