I grew up in Mississippi being told it was a great place, but not feeling that. When I finally began reading seriously, literature showed me something about where I was from which was worthwhile. — Richard Ford Copy Share Image
I decided early on that I wanted to participate in the greater American experience, rather than the parochial one in Mississippi. But I have an urge as a writer to meld the Southern experience into the larger American one. — Richard Ford Copy Share Image
Something will be there when the flood recedes. We know that. It will be those people now standing in the water, and on those rooftops - many black, many poor. Homeless. Overlooked. And it will be New Orleans - though its memory may be shortened, its self-gaze and eccentricity scoured out so that what's left is a city more like… — Richard Ford Copy Share
I started reading literature at 17 or 18, and I felt this extra beat to life. — Richard Ford Copy Share Image
I don't hate children. My wife and I just didn't think we would be good parents, and also by the time we got married… — Richard Ford Copy Share Image
Writing never came naturally and I still have to force my hand to do it. — Richard Ford Copy Share Image
“Conversations with adults other than a person's parents had more of an outcome.” — Richard Ford Copy Share Image
Some people want to be bank presidents. Other people want to rob banks. — Richard Ford Copy Share Image
In order to write novels for a living - it's not pathological, but I do think and worry and brood and fidget about stuff… — Richard Ford Copy Share Image
There are more people in America that love guns and want guns for themselves and everyone else than there are not. It is also… — Richard Ford Copy Share Image
I'm an equal opportunity reader - although I don't much read plays. And since I was raised a Presbyterian, pretty much all pleasures are… — Richard Ford Copy Share Image
