History must stay open, it is all humanity.

It is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.

The beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

It is not what you say that matters but the manner in which you say it; there lies the secret of the ages.

The job of the poet is to use language effectively, his own language, the only language which is to him authentic.

The weight of love Has buoyed me up Till my head Knocks against the sky.

As birds' wings beat the solid air without which none could fly so words freed by the imagination affirm reality by their flight.

It is not fair to be old, to put on a brown sweater.

There is nothing beginning nor end to the imagination but it delights in its own seasons reversing the usual order at will.

My first poem was a bolt from the blue … it broke a spell of disillusion and suicidal despondence. ... it filled me with soul satisfying joy.

Somewhere the sense makes copper roses steel roses — The rose carried weight of love but love is at an end — of roses It is at the edge of the petal that love waits.

If people were kinder, the world might cease weeping.

For somehow this disease inheres in tyranny, never to trust one's friends.

True prayer is a way of life, not just for use in cases of emergency.

The great are not famous, and the famous are not great

I've worked with a lot of really fine actors, both on stage and on screen. The level of their game lifts me up and brings the level of my game up to theirs. Always. It's like a constant upgrade.

Adaptability is the simple secret of survival.

Tolerance should really only be a passing attitude: it should lead to appreciation. To tolerate is to offend.

For my next trick I will make everyone understand me.

It wouldn't be right for me to clown around when I'm painting a president.