Not till the poets among us can be "literalists of the imagination"-above insolence and triviality and can present for inspection, "imaginary gardens with real toads in them." shall we have it.

As for butterflies, I can hardly conceive of one's attending upon you; but to question the congruence of the complement is vain, if it exists.

Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads.

Your thorns are the best part of you.

Any writer overwhelmingly honest about pleasing himself is almost sure to please others.

Originality is... a by-product of sincerity.

Camels are snobbish and sheep, unintelligent; water buffaloes, neurasthenic-- even murderous. Reindeer seem over-serious.

Omissions are not accidents.

The hands are the heart's messengers.

The passion for setting people right is in itself an afflictive disease.

When one cannot appraise out of one's own experience, the temptation to blunder is minimized, but even when one can, appraisal seems chiefly useful as appraisal of the appraiser.

Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to "die before you die" --- and find that there is no death.

There are some beliefs and places in this city that are incomprehensible to some-hell-to most, and it's best to leave them alone.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?

Fear invites aggression - do not show it to a predator.

Enjoying praise is in some people merely a civility of the heart--and just the opposite of a vanity of the spirit.

Italians have a very closed life. Football is all their life is.

I'm too lazy and I like food and I like my free time too much to spend it working out!

We're beginning to find out that many of the school shootings are side reactions to Prozac-like medications. That's a very big hidden factor.

The architect needs to learn to see, and to open his eyes because there is always a lesson to learn from the streets.

Commend while others are criticizing, persist while others are quitting