An author knows his landscape best; he can stand around, smell the wind, get a feel for his place.
Tony Hillerman

How can you stop writing?
Tony Hillerman

I try to make my books reflect humanity as I see it.
Tony Hillerman

I always try to make the setting fit the story I have in mind.
Tony Hillerman

I always have one or two, sometimes more, Navajo or other tribes' cultural elements in mind when I start a plot. In Thief of Time, I wanted to make readers aware of Navajo attitude toward the dead, respect for burial sites.
Tony Hillerman

Although I wasn't able to get a visa for Vietnam, I was able to talk with swift boat veterans to get a feel for the time and place, and I visited a tropical prison in the Philippines to get a sense of what a Vietnamese prison might have been like.
Tony Hillerman

Being Indian is not blood as much as it is culture.
Tony Hillerman

I know what I write about seems exotic to a lot of people, but not for me. I pulled up to an old trading post and saw a few elderly Navajos sitting on a bench. I felt right at home.
Tony Hillerman