Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Stephen King:
A lot of people did serve in the Civil War.

Stephen King:
It's interesting to me to know that I have Southern roots. I had no idea. No idea of that.

Stephen King:
[Tennessee in the Civil War] The right side.

Stephen King:
[not wanting to be a slave] Its good. Something to be proud of.

Stephen King:
[finding out Tennessee was a huge slave state] I didn't know that.

Stephen King:
I'll never be able to play like Keith Richards, but I always did my best. I always had a blast.

Stephen King:
[to a fan at a book signing for his sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep] I didn't know what was gonna happen. I never know.

Stephen King:
I grew up interested in nightmares, scary stories and things that go bump in the night.

Stephen King:
I have a short leash when people ask where I come from.

Stephen King:
I've always been curious about what my past was.

Stephen King:
[his children Joe, Owen and Rachel] They're good kids.

Stephen King:
[his real surname Pollock] Doesn't have the same ring to it.

Stephen King:
[the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918] It could almost be out of a horror novel that I wrote.

Stephen King:
I always thought to myself you look like an Irishman and you've got the Irish imagination. I've always had that appreciation for fairies and ogres and boggarts.

Stephen King:
Information always leads to more questions, where you say to yourself "yes, but I want to know".

Stephen King:
[slaves] They didn't like it on a moral basis.

Stephen King:
[discovering your roots] I'm set back on my heels by this whole process. Like having a stage and turning on different lights so you see things you never saw before. It's a lot to contemplate.

Stephen King:
[after a DNA test] I'm 99% European, baby!

Stephen King:
[when discovering his roots] Thankyou.

Stephen King:
[after learning new things about his heritage] Wow.