Ernest Gaines

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

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. ”

A myth is an old lie that people believe in. White people believe that they're better than anyone else on earth - and that's a myth. ”

I suppose I started writing seriously at 16 years old. I thought I wrote a novel at 16 and sent it to New York! They sent it back because it wasn't novel. ”

I try to write something that would interest anybody and keep them turning the page. You must have a plot and good storyline. ”

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. ”

What I miss today more than anything else - I don't go to church as much anymore - but that old-time religion, that old singing, that old praying which I love so much. That is the great strength of my being, of my writing. ”

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. ”

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

Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? ”