James McBride Quotes - Page 3

The Good Lord Bird don't run in a flock. He Flies alone. You know why? He's searching. Looking for the right tree. And when he sees that tree, that dead tree that's taking all the nutrition and good things from the forest floor. He goes out and he gnaws at it, and he gnaws at it till the thing gets tired and it falls down. And the dirt from it raises other trees. It gives them good things to eat. It makes 'em strong. Gives 'em life. And the circle goes 'round.

The black church will accept anybody.

I'm not interested in food. It's just fuel.

If you have the material it will form itself as a kind of connective tissue.

Newt Gingrich wrote a novel, and he's a short story. Bill Clinton wrote a biography, and he's a novel.

The question of religion in black America is something filmmakers don't want to touch.

Until you expose the cancer, you can't fix it.

It's the same old story. Nothing in this world happens unless white folks says it happens. And therein lies the problem of being a professional black storyteller - writer, musician, filmmaker.

When you're interviewing someone, even your mother - you have to sort of deal with you have to get some objective space from yourself and the person but you also have to find what's the best way to get the information from that person.

But at the end of the day, there are some questions that have no answers, and then one answer that has no question: love rules the game. Every time. All the time. That’s what counts.

Put yourself in God’s hands and you can’t go wrong.

I'd like to do something involving jazz. But books are how I earn my living, and I'd like to stay with the horse I rode in on.

People don't realize you're blowing over changes, time changes, harmony, different keys. I mark a point in my solo where it's got to peak at point D I go to A, B, C D then I'm home.

Be kind to the living.

I'm proud of 'Miracle at St. Anna' and I loved it; there's no question in my mind it's as good as any movie that came out in 2007.

The man was the finest preacher. He could make a frog stand up straight and get happy with Jesus.

But what difference does it make? ... When you're mixed, you see how absurd this business of race is.