I never have trouble keeping fact and invention straight.

As a writer who writes poetry, nonfiction, and fiction, I think it's important to always maintain a firm grasp on genre and ethics.

The ingredients that make a good poem often differ from those that make a good essay and from those that make a good novel.

Fiction is often a much-needed step back that gives you the distance to see things more clearly; it's very often better at explaining why events happened as opposed to just what happened.

The point of living in the world is just to stay interested.

I wasn't glad that I hadn't died. And I wasn't sad that I hadn't. I wasn't anything.

If you love something, know that it will leave on a day you are far from ready.

I thought at times that poetry might be an elegant way of screaming.

Like many parents in middle age, he's quick to spot changes in the world, slow to note shifts in his own perspective.

Time only goes in that one direction.

I’m not used to people sticking around when things go bad, ” she said, by way of explanation.

I really believe there is the possibility of something great that can happen in the right hands.

It betrays a poverty of ambition if all you think about is what goods you can buy instead of what good you can do.

But my heart is always propped up in a field on its tripod, ready for the next arrow.

I know that I've been put on this Earth to make people happy, to inspire people, and to uplift people. That's a beautiful thing.

Am I worried? Sure, I'm worried. When it comes to the Olympics, it can't be a predictable finish.

I'm an average guy. I wasn't the dude who was gonna sit at the stage and dump all my paycheck into the girl.

Can man be free if woman be a slave?

Death is the most misunderstood phenomenon. People have thought of death as the end of life. That is the first, basic misunderstanding.

Solitude cherishes great virtues and destroys little ones.