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

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.

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.

No one of real intelligence will accept anything just because some authority declares it be so. Don't accept the truth of anything you have not confirmed for yourself.

Politics is a herd mentality. Politicians don't really lead. Politicians reflect what they think is consensus opinion.

Selfhood begins with a walking away, And love is proved in letting go.

My best entrepreneurial advice is to start.

As soon as you become afraid to make a fool of yourself, you're in trouble. I decided I may as well just see if I can live with myself making millions of mistakes and learn something from it.

Art tells gorgeous lies that come true.

The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it.

Never moon a werewolf.

I wish every Republican wanted to impeach [Jeorge W.] Bush , but people don't agree with this. He's stating a fact about what he believes.

States are like people. They do not question the awful status quo until some dramatic event overturns the conventional and lax way of thinking.