“The 60s passed and faded and I grew older, and in 1987 bought a house ...” — Russell Banks Quote

“The 60s passed and faded and I grew older, and in 1987 bought a house in upstate New York, and it turned out that John Brown was buried down the road from my house and that he had lived there longer than anywhere else and his house was still standing.”

“One of the things I have tried to do with this book and with all of them really is avoid that simple, easy, reductionist view of motivation and to show we do things for a complex net of reasons, a real braid of reasons.”

“I don't want it to be all that self-conscious or artificial, but it really grows out of my having invented myself as a listener so that I could hear her voice.”

“I much prefer working with kids whose life could be completely upended by a reading of a book over a weekend. You give them a book to read - they go home and come back a changed person. And that is so much more interesting and exciting.”

“If you dedicate your attention to discipline in your life you become smarter while you are writing than while you are hanging out with your pals or in any other line of work.”

“Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the 20th century, and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press.”

“You can see God from anywhere if your mind is set to love and obey Him.”

“I don't think I'll ever escape the fact that I don't belong anywhere in particular. I've often dreamed about going back to Nigeria, but that's a very romantic notion. It's a hideous country to go to in reality.”

“For pretty much my whole life, I've been obsessed with the game of hockey, and with getting better at it. I've worked my tail off every summer to come back better than before. I've always believed that hard work can get you anywhere in this sport.”

“I'd go anywhere to work, so long as it's worth it.”

“There's nowhere else like London. Nothing at all, anywhere.”