"Literature matters so much to me I can hardly stand it." — David Shields

The thing I hate the most in any kind of writing is self-righteousness. Where you pretend you don't have the same kinds of flaws your subject has.

That's why people read books. You get to have the real conversation, as opposed to the pseudo-conversations we have in everyday life.

Are black people conscious of how excruciatingly self-conscious white people have become in their every interaction with black people? Is this self-consciousness an improvement? Maybe not, because I'm thinking of people in categories rather than as people, which is a famously dangerous thing to do.

If the bus driver is black, I thank him... when I get off at my spot, whereas I would never think of doing this if the driver were white.