quotes by Ernest J. Gaines

"And that's all we are Jefferson, all of us on this earth, a piece of drifting wood. until we - each of us, individually- decide to become something else. I am still that piece of drifting wood, and those out there are no better. But you can be better. "
— Ernest J. Gaines (A Lesson Before Dying)

"He told us that most of us would die violently, and those who did not would be brought down to the level of beasts."
— Ernest J. Gaines (A Lesson Before Dying)

"There will always be men struggling to change, and there will always be those who are controlled by the past."
— Ernest J. Gaines