The black church will accept anybody. James McBride More Quotes by James McBride More Quotes From James McBride The Good Lord Bird don't run in a flock. He Flies alone. You know why? He's searching. Looking for the right tree. And when he sees that tree, that dead tree that's taking all the nutrition and good things from the forest floor. He goes out and he gnaws at it, and he gnaws at it till the thing gets tired and it falls down. And the dirt from it raises other trees. It gives them good things to eat. It makes 'em strong. Gives 'em life. And the circle goes 'round. James McBride strongrunningfall ...since I was a little boy, she had always wanted me to go. She was always sending me off on a bus someplace, to elementary school, to camp, to relatives in Kentucky, to college. She pushed me away from her just as she'd pushed my elder siblings away when we lived in New York, literally shoving them out the front door when they left for college. James McBride siblingnew-yorkschool The man was the finest preacher. He could make a frog stand up straight and get happy with Jesus. James McBride frogsmenjesus God gived you the seed. But the watering and caring of that seed is up to you. James McBride seedsup-to-youcaring Sometimes it seemed like the truth was a bandy-legged soul who dashed from one side of the world to the other and I could never find him. James McBride soulsidesworld The question of religion in black America is something filmmakers don't want to touch. James McBride blackwantamerica Until you expose the cancer, you can't fix it. James McBride cancer Writing for me is cutting out the fat and getting to the meaning. James McBride fatscuttingwriting It is hard to find romance in the present because there's nothing left to the imagination. James McBride romanceimagination It's the same old story. Nothing in this world happens unless white folks says it happens. And therein lies the problem of being a professional black storyteller - writer, musician, filmmaker. James McBride blackwhitelying When you're interviewing someone, even your mother - you have to sort of deal with you have to get some objective space from yourself and the person but you also have to find what's the best way to get the information from that person. James McBride informationspacemother But at the end of the day, there are some questions that have no answers, and then one answer that has no question: love rules the game. Every time. All the time. That’s what counts. James McBride the-end-of-the-daygamesanswers What humor allows you to do is to let the past go with less pain. It's a healing element. It releases some of the pain from the shotgun wound. James McBride painhealingpast Put yourself in God’s hands and you can’t go wrong. James McBride hands Newt Gingrich wrote a novel, and he's a short story. Bill Clinton wrote a biography, and he's a novel. James McBride billsbiographiesstories The act of choosing what to place in your piece when you're a historian or a non-fiction writer already renders it into fiction for someone else. In some ways fiction comes a lot closer to reality. When you start talking about something as brutal as slavery and life in the American West, it's really important to take a non- judgmental stance. We romanticize a great deal about life in the American West, but I thank God I wasn't living during that time. No matter what color you were, it was rough, crude, tough living. James McBride thank-godimportantreality My family is my career. James McBride my-familycareers People don't realize you're blowing over changes, time changes, harmony, different keys. I mark a point in my solo where it's got to peak at point D I go to A, B, C D then I'm home. James McBride keyshomepeople As a journalist, the details always tell the story. James McBride journalistdetailsstories I think comedy allows people to accept the more difficult parts of history. And history, if it's presented wrong, is just very depressing, particularly the history of slavery. If slavery is presented properly, it's a great story. But I think that within the commercial world of storytelling in which I live, there haven't been many strong works that discuss slavery in ways that are palatable and funny and interesting to the reader. James McBride depressingstrongthinking
