I have learned as much about writing about my people by listening to blues and jazz and spirituals as I have by reading novels. Ernest Gaines More Quotes by Ernest Gaines More Quotes From Ernest Gaines Sometimes you got to hurt something to help something. Sometimes you have to plow under one thing in order for something else to grow. Ernest Gaines hurthelpingorder Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? Ernest Gaines respectmotivationalintegrity Without love for my fellow man and respect for nature, to me, life is an obscenity. Ernest Gaines men I want you to show them the difference between what they think you are and what you can be. Ernest Gaines differenceswantthinking I have no more to say except this: We must live with our own conscience. Ernest Gaines conscience Question everything. Every stripe, every star, every word spoken. Everything. Ernest Gaines stripesafrican-americanstars I write to try to find out who I am. One of my main themes is manliness. I think I'm trying to figure out what manliness really is. Ernest Gaines who-i-amwritingthinking 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. Ernest Gaines whitebelievelying Words mean nothing. Action is the only thing. Doing. That's the only thing. Ernest Gaines motivationallifemean You learn from music, from watching great athletes at work - how disciplined they are, how they move. You learn these things by watching a shortstop at work, how he concentrates on one thing at a time. You learn from classic music, from the blues and jazz, from bluegrass. From all this, you learn how to sustain a great line without bringing in unnecessary words. Ernest Gaines craftsathletemoving 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. Ernest Gaines brotherresponsibilitythinking Nietzsche said without music, life would be a mistake. To me, without books, life would be a mistake. Ernest Gaines would-bemistakebook The Six Golden Rules of Writing: Read, read, read, and write, write, write. Ernest Gaines goldensixwriting The artist must be like a heart surgeon. He must approach something with sympathy, but with a sort of coldness and work and work until he finds some kind of perfection in his work. You can't have blood splashing all over the place. Things must be done very cleanly. Ernest Gaines artistheartblood We all have much more in common than we have difference. I would say that about people all over the world. They don't know how much in common that they have Ernest Gaines differencespeopleworld You've got to bend with the wind or you're broken. Ernest Gaines brokenwind There will always be men struggling to change, and there will always be those who are controlled by the past. Ernest Gaines changestrugglepast I think I'm a very religious person. I think I believe in God as much as any man does. I don't only believe in God, I know there's God. Ernest Gaines religiousmenbelieve In all my stories and novels, no one ever escapes Louisiana. Maybe that is because my soul never left Louisiana, although my body did go to California. Ernest Gaines californialouisianasoul Everything's been said, but it needs saying again. Ernest Gaines saidneeds
