“I've always thought a novelist only has one character, and that is him...” — John Gregory Dunne Quote

I've always thought a novelist only has one character, and that is himself or herself. In my case, me.

Were it not for Jackie Robinson, Branch Rickey would be remembered, if at all, as a Bible-thumping midwestern Methodist windbag who neither played baseball on Sundays when he was a mediocre catcher for the St. Louis Browns and the New York Highlanders, nor attended games on the Sabbath as a baseball executive.

Being exposed to the enlisted Army was an eye-opener. I thought everyone was like me, but the enlisted Army is a constituency of the dispossessed.

Class has always been Tom Wolfe's subject, and I suspect the reason for much of the disfavor in which he is held.

I like a woman who takes care of herself - it says something about the way she'll care for me.

Some people say, 'If she's so real, why does she call herself with a made-up name?' Well, India is my real name. Or they say, 'If she's so real, why does she wear makeup?' I didn't know there was anything wrong with makeup.

But Paulie gives all of herself away, and so to create a love like that and a person who would give themselves away was what I thought was going to be difficult. I was little scared of such a challenge.

A mother has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.

I think the best thing I could ever teach my daughter is that she's not an object or a trophy, and that she can trust in herself and believe in herself and that you are not your things, and you are not your job.