Many Southern writers must have learned the art of storytelling from listening to oral tales. I did. It gave me the knowledge that the simplest incid…

- Erskine Caldwell

I think you must remember that a writer is a simple-minded person to begin with and go on that basis. He's not a great mind, he's not a great thinker…

- Erskine Caldwell

I think acceptance of human rights is going to progress from one day to the next. I don't think there's going to be any violent revolution about the …

- Erskine Caldwell

I was not a writer to begin with; I was a listener.

- Erskine Caldwell

I'm not interested in plots. I'm interested only in the characterization of people and what they do.

- Erskine Caldwell

To me there is no such thing as creative writing. It's either good writing, whatever the subject, or it's not creative.

- Erskine Caldwell

Influence is a very tenuous matter. I try to avoid it in every respect. I don't want to be influenced by anybody.

- Erskine Caldwell