It's so hard to say what you really mean. For any number of reasons: to protect yourself, or if you just can't find the words.

- Paul Beatty

Sometimes I would get frustrated, I'd think, "You know, this is a good book, how come no one is paying attention to it?" So it's nice to have some re…

- Paul Beatty

Don't write about trying to change the world, just write about a changed world or a world that's not changing. Let that do the work.

- Paul Beatty

My British publisher has this independent press. It's pretty small; they actually won last year. And she's got this great energy, and she's fiercely …

- Paul Beatty

If New York is the City That Never Sleeps, then Los Angeles is the City That's Always Passed Out on the Couch.

- Paul Beatty

In The Sellout I tried to capture how we can talk and see race, how we see urbanity, and how we see our history.

- Paul Beatty

People are very comfortable when race relations get looked at retrospectively. Slavery, the civil rights movement, etc.

- Paul Beatty

It makes me think about how you hear these young people say, "I see you, man." Or even if you go and watch some basketball game over the summer and t…

- Paul Beatty

All this angst, all this stuff we all feel, is just tied to making art. It's so ancient.

- Paul Beatty