German poetry is going in a very different direction from French poetry.... Its language has become more sober, more factual. It distrusts "beauty." It tries to be truthful.

Only truthful hands write true poems. I cannot see any basic difference between a handshake and a poem.

Only one thing remained reachable, close and secure amid all losses: language. Yes, language. In spite of everything, it remained secure against loss.

A nothing we were, are, shall remain, flowering: the nothing--, the no one's rose.

Reality is not simply there, it does not simply exist: it must be sought out and won.

Poetry is a sort of homecoming.

The poem is lonely. It is lonely and en route. Its author stays with it. Does this very fact not place the poem already here, at its inception, in the encounter, in the mystery of encounter?

Don't sign your name between worlds, surmount the manifold of meanings, trust the tearstain, learn to live.

There's nothing in the world for which a poet will give up writing, not even he is a Jew and the language of his poems is German.

We are told that when Hölderlin went 'mad,' he constantly repeated, 'Nothing is happening to me, nothing is happening to me.'

They've healed me to pieces.

The people in my circle? Those who make me feel blessed

As you go along your road in life you will if you aim high enough also meet resistance ... but no matter how tough the opposition may seem have courage still-and persevere.

Military necessity does not admit of cruelty - that is, the infliction of suffering for the sake of suffering or for revenge, . . . nor of torture to extort confessions.

I started off playing the clarinet, after I was inspired by listening to my dad's Benny Goodman records.

rain began to beat at the narrow lattice windows in the stop-and-start manner of an untalented child practicing scales at the piano.

I did seven indies because the independent market used to be a lot better before all the stars were doing independents. As a beginning actor, that's where you started.

A job should employ God-given talents in a way that glorifies Him.

Raised some taxes based on court orders and voter approval.

Your presence was shore where I rested/ released from the hoodoo of that dance, where I spoke/ with my true voice again.

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.