I come out of a strong oral tradition in the South.

- Horton Foote

When you're a writer, you have to write these stories, even if you don't get paid

- Horton Foote

You have to watch out with my plays. They're like yeast. You think they're one thing, then all of a sudden subtext gets to working.

- Horton Foote

Writing is the thing that props me up.

- Horton Foote

I’ve known people that the world has thrown everything at to discourage them...to break their spirit. And yet something about them retains a dignity.…

- Horton Foote

I'm a social writer in the sense that I want to record, but not in the sense of trying to change people's minds.

- Horton Foote

But I don't really write to honor the past. I write to investigate, to try to figure out what happened and why it happened, knowing I'll never really…

- Horton Foote

If I ever teach writing again, I’d say the first lesson is to listen.

- Horton Foote