"Loyalty is weird, it kicks in when you dont expect it and the people who deserve loyalty least seem to get it the most."
— Russell Banks

"If you dedicate your attention to discipline in your life you become smarter while you are writing than while you are hanging out with your pals or in any other line of work."
— Russell Banks

"Actually I dont know if it ever works out unless you are standing in the middle of the street and dont see the ten-ton truck coming and this good guy pushes you out of the way and says its for your own good."
— Russell Banks

"They were gone and I missed them but even so I was very happy. For the rest of my life no matter where on this planet earth I went and no matter how scared or confused I got, I could wait until dark and look up into the night sky and see my three friends again and my heart would swell with love of them and make me strong and clearheaded."
— Russell Banks

"Let the truth take care of itself, I decided. It's done all right on its own so far."
— Russell Banks (Book of Jamaica)

"No, because I am not a ventriloquist. "
— Russell Banks

"Lists of books we re-read and books we can't finish tell more about us than about the relative worth of the books themselves"
— Russell Banks