Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough informatio... - Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose

"When there is a tendency to compartmentalize the spiritual and make it resident in a certain type of life only, the spiritual is apt gradually to be lost."

"Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days."

"Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I'm always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it's very shocking to the system."

"Art never responds to the wish to make it democratic; it is not for everybody; it is only for those who are willing to undergo the effort needed to understand it."

"Your beliefs will be the light by which you see, but they will not be what you see and they will not be a substitute for seeing."