My fondest hope is that 'Roots' may start black, white, brown, red, yellow people digging back for their own roots. Man, that would make me feel 90 feet tall.

- Alex Haley

I look at my books the way parents look at their children. The fact that one becomes more successful than the others doesn't make me love the less successful one any less.

- Alex Haley

Roots is not just a saga of my family. It is the symbolic saga of a people.

- Alex Haley

In my writing, as much as I could, I tried to find the good, and praise it.

- Alex Haley

Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you.

- Alex Haley

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.

- Alex Haley

Racism is taught in our society, it is not automatic. It is learned behavior toward persons with dissimilar physical characteristics.

- Alex Haley

Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.

- Alex Haley

In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.

- Alex Haley

When you start about family, about lineage and ancestry, you are talking about every person on earth.

- Alex Haley