I always worked until I had something done and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day.

They say the seeds of what we will do are in all of us, but it always seemed to me that in those who make jokes in life the seeds are covered with better soil and with a higher grade of manure.

Since I had started to break down all my writing and get rid of all facility and try to make instead of describe, writing had been wonderful to do.

The people that I liked and had not met went to the big cafes because they were lost in them and no one noticed them and they could be alone in them and be together.

I belong to this notebook and this pencil.

Creation's probably overrated. After all, God made the world in only six days and rested on the seventh.

We ate well and cheaply and drank well and cheaply and slept well and warm together and loved each other.

In those days, there was no money to buy books.

For a poet he threw a very accurate milk bottle.

People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.

I had never known any man to die while speaking in terza-rima

The working artist will not tolerate trouble in her life because she knows trouble prevents her from doing her work.

Everyone wants to know why customer service has gone to hell in a handbasket. I want to know why customer behavior has gone to hell in a handbasket.

When I moved to the East Village in the late seventies, I wanted to be a street performer, so I practiced daily. I never did work up the skills or the courage to perform on the street, though.

There are two modes of establishing our reputation; to be praised by honest men, and to be abused by rogues.

Work will cure your grief. Serve others.

It's okay if you can't see what you're doing, cuz even when your eyes are open, you can't see what you're doing.

Let us all reaffirm our commitment to improving the well- being of families throughout the world.

Love means setting aside walls, fences, and unlocking doors and saying 'Yes.' One can be in paradise by simply saying 'yes' to this moment.

The taxes of government are heavy enough, but not so heavy as the taxes we lay upon ourselves.

No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it. To myself, personally, it brings nothing but increasing drudgery and daily loss of friends.