I have always thought of poems as stepping stones in one's own sense of oneself.

Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.

Believe that a further shore is reachable from here.

Even if the hopes you started out with are dashed, hope has to be maintained.

Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.

I can't think of a case where poems changed the world, but what they do is they change people's understanding of what's going on in the world.

If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way.

History says, Don’t hope On this side of the grave, But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme

Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.

All I know is a door into the dark

I have begun to think of life as a series of ripples widening out from an original center.

I do not, " I felt oddly appalled by her statement. "I'm an excellent liar. Ask my dentist. He swears I floss regularly.

Especially at a time when one's life was new, roots helped.

Wise individuals frequently say very little, but what they do say hits the mark. Such remarks often remain in the mind of the recipient for a long time, possibly a lifetime.

She took no pleasure in knowing…whatever he asked of her, she would do.

The little dissatisfaction which every artist feels at the completion of a work forms the germ of a new work.

Everything ends this way in France — everything. Weddings, christenings, duels, burials, swindlings, diplomatic affairs — everything is a pretext for a good dinner.

Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.

Cities - I'm attracted to them, and I have a special attachment to New York...it's my place.

The one thing I would hope would go on my tombstone is, 'I made my parents proud.'

When you flop, that's just another message that you don't know how to play me. Stand up and take your medicine like a man.