"Much more than memoir; it's history."

--

Russell Banks

“Look to the cross, think of the cross, meditate on the cross, and then go and set your affections on the world if you can.”
“Most of us have lost that sense of unity of biosphere and humanity which would bind and reassure us all with an affirmation of beauty. Most of us do not today believe that whatever the ups and down of detail within our limited experience, the larger whole is primarily beautiful.”
“There's nothing that irritates Americans more than the fact that some members of Congress think they are entitled to their own set of rules. And it's true - too many people in Washington live in an alternate reality.”
“You have to be a really talented writer if you're trying to encapsulate a news story with a song and have it live after the event. I don't have the focus to do that, really.”
“T'was a thief said the last kind word to Christ. Christ took the kindness and forgave the theft.”
“We may remark in passing that to be blind and beloved may, in this world where nothing is perfect, be among the most strangely exquisite forms of happiness. The supreme happiness in life is the assurance of being loved; of being loved for oneself, even in spite of oneself; and this assurance the blind man possesses. In his affliction, to be served is to be caressed. Does he lack anything? no. Possessing love he is not deprived of light. A love, moreover, that is wholly pure. There can be no blindness where there is this certainty.”
“It's over, Sam. Finally." "Yeah," he said. "I guess it is." "Turn out the light, Sam." Sam reached for the switch and turned out the light.”
“Why should I try to make you believe the things I believe in?”

You may also like:

Atom Egoyan
Stage Director
Chase Twichell
Poet
Don DeLillo
Writer
Jack Kerouac
Novelist
John Brown
Abolitionist
Joyce Carol Oates
Author
Raymond Carver
Writer
Richard Ford
Novelist
William Faulkner
Writer