One of the ridiculous aspects of being a poet is the huge gulf between how seriously we take ourselves and how generally we are ignored by everybody else.

A motto I've adopted is, if at first you don't succeed, hide all evidence that you ever tried.

The mind can be trained to relieve itself on paper.

Poetry is like standing on the edge of a lake on a moonlit night and the light of the moon is always pointing straight at you.

Nationalism is a type of insanity in which the boundaries of a land replace God.

In the process of simplifying oneself, one often discovers the thing called voice.

Write the poem only you can write.

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

But tonight, the lion of contentment has placed a warm heavy paw on my chest.

While the novelist is banging on his typewriter, the poet is watching a fly in the windowpane.

So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.

Lincoln said his spiky hair had "a way of getting up in the world".

Social psychology has found the more you reward people for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward.

You have to accept yourself, and you have to realize that you're beautiful.

Through the years our business has been killing;-it was our first calling in life. Our knowledge of lif eis limited to death.

The Cube is an imitation of life itself - or even an improvement on life.

Successful generals make plans to fit circumstances, but do not try to create circumstances to fit plans.

My means are sane, my motives and my object mad.

It's challenging as an actor to let go but I had some pleasure out of it too. To not have the effort of having to present myself is quite liberating.

The blues had a baby and they called it rock and roll.

More company increases happiness, but does not lighten or diminish misery.