I'm a hillbilly, a woman, and a poet, and I understood early on that nobody was going to listen to anything I had to say anyway, so I might as well just say what I want to.

- Irene McKinney, Poet Laureate, West Virginia

Labels: Appalachian life, famous appalachians, Irene McKinney, poet laureate, poetry, poets, Quote of the day, West Virginia

I believe that every human being is potentially capable within his 'limits' of fully 'realizing' his potentialities; that this, his being cheated and choked of it, is infinitely the ghastliest, commonest, and most inclusive of all the crimes of which the human world can assure itself."
- James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

Labels: Appalachia, Author, famous appalachians, James Agee, Quote of the day, Tennessee

"We're defined by where we're from, though, I know that much. And having grown up where I did, the land was inescapable. When you walk outside and there's a mountain in front of you, you can't deny its existence and its importance."
- Silas House

Labels: Appalachia, Appalachian life, famous appalachians, Kentucky, Quote of the day, Silas House

It is better to confess ignorance than provide it.
-Homer Hickam, The Coalwood Way

Homer has a new book due out in February 2008 titled Red Helmet, it's about a New York woman who falls in love with a West Virginia coal miner, and between troubles at home and tragedy striking, she must go underground and work the mines herself, donning the red helmet that is the mark of a novice coal miner. I can't wait for it. Check it out.

Labels: Appalachia, coal miner, famous appalachians, Homer Hickam, Quote of the day, red helmet, Rocket Boys, The Coalwood Way, West Virginia

No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.
- Booker T. Washington

Labels: Appalachia, booker t washington, famous appalachians, Quote of the day, Virginia, West Virginia

"Write something to suit yourself and many people will like it; write something to suit everybody and scarcely anyone will care for it."
- Jesse Stuart

Labels: Appalachia, Appalachian life, Jesse Stuart, Kentucky, Quote of the day, writer