I am not a ventriloquist.

- Russell Banks

We know that people we love are both good and bad, but we expect strangers to be one or the other.

- Russell Banks

Lists of books we reread and books we can't finish tell more about us than about the relative worth of the books themselves.

- Russell Banks

Storytelling is an ancient and honorable act. An essential role to play in the community or tribe. It's one that I embrace wholeheartedly and have be…

- Russell Banks

It was strange to stand there in front of the mirror and see myself like I was my own best friend, a kid wanted to hang with forever. This was a boy …

- Russell Banks

There is a wonderful intelligence to the unconscious. It’s always smarter than we are.

- Russell Banks

The way I feel about every book is this: you don't finish it, you abandon it. All of my books have in some sense failed, otherwise I wouldn't write a…

- Russell Banks

You go out into the world, you read everything you can read, you imitate the things you love, and you learn how hard it is to do. Eventually, you lea…

- Russell Banks

Let the truth take care of itself, I decided. It's done all right on its own so far.

- Russell Banks