Poetry is not a way of saying things; it's a way of seeing things.

Haul up the flag, you mourners, Not half-mast but all the way; The funeral is done and disbanded; The devil's had the final say.

Poetry is innocent, not wise. It does not learn from experience, because each poetic experience is unique.

But with exquisite breathing you smile, with satisfaction of love, And I touch you again as you tick in the silence and settle in sleep.

To make the child in your own image is a capital crime, for your image is not worth repeating. The child knows this and you know it. Consequently you hate each other.

The proverbist knows nothing of the two sides of a question. He knows only the roundness of answers.

Already old, the question Who shall die? Becomes unspoken Who is innocent?

The body, what is it, Father, but a sign To love the force that grows us, to give back What in Thy palm is senselessness and mud?

How something important happens is the business of historians and newspapers, the effect it has is the business of philosophers and writers and especially poets.

Poets of course are even more unpredictable than other writers, overwhelmed as they are by the moment they inhabit and finding it difficult to connect yesterday with tomorrow.

Self-knowledge is a dangerous thing, tending to make man shallow or insane.

Leaving behind books is even more beautiful — there are far too many children.

Positive thinkers focus their minds on the future

The greatest foe of human is his mighty wisdom.

It's common to go from 'crashing the gate' to guarding it.

I love the right words. I think economy and precision of language are important.

It's when you don't need something that you tend to lose it.

God will pardon: That's His business.

We wake up one day and find we have lost our dreams in order to protect our days.

The minute you have more than one voice, you have more possibilities opening up. You have all the molecules in all of those bodies and their make up interacting.

... Washington is, for one thing, the news capital of the world. And for another, it is a company town. Most of the interesting people in Washington either work for the government or write about it.