I think it's better if you write poems that look like you.

You owe reality nothing and the truth about your feelings everything.

To write a poem you must have a streak of arrogance-- not in real life I hope. In real life try to be nice. It will save you a hell of a lot of trouble and give you more time to write.

A creative writing class may be one of the last places you can go where your life still matters.

Assuming you can write clear English sentences, give up all worry about communication. If you want to communicate, use the telephone.

An act of imagination is an act of self-acceptance.

Don't write love poems when you're in love. Write them when you're not in love.

Say nothing and just make music and you'll find plenty to say.

Don't write with a pen. Ink tends to give the impression the words shouldn't be changed.

A good creative-writing teacher can save a good writer a lot of time.

Think small.... If you can't think small, try philosophy or social criticism.

Because if I fell any deeper for the way his eyes crinkled with his smile or his habit of tapping on his nose to emphasize a point, my ship would be sunk.

When you go through a breakup, it feels likesomeone died. And the truth is that someone has died – the relationship.

So this is how the merchant ship won’t follow us, ” I mumbled, “They aren’t insane enough to join the party.

Our utilitarian structures will mature into architecture only when, through their fulfillment of function, they become carriers of the will of the age.

This is my job and I respect it enough to concentrate on it.

We cannot truly face life until we face the fact that it will be taken away from us.

I'm really glad my food comes murdered.

Values are shaped and refined by rubbing against real problems, and people interpret their problems according to the values they hold.

Mistakes don't have to define us. They're how we learn and grow. They show us who and what we don't want to be. It's why they're mistakes.

I'm in prison. But my heart and mind is free. Gangsta haters on the streets are doing more time than me. They need 30 police escorts with them every time they walk down the street.