There is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting.

Love is a universal migraine. A bright stain on the vision, Blotting out reason.

There's no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money, either.

Every English poet should master the rules of grammar before he attempts to bend or break them.

The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he really is very good, in spite of all the people who say he is very good.

Kill if you must, but never hate: Man is but grass and hate is blight, The sun will scorch you soon or late, Die wholesome then, since you must fight

I was last in Rome in AD 540 when it was full of Goths and their heavy horses. It has changed a great deal since then.

New beginnings and new shoots Spring again from hidden roots Pull or stab or cut or burn, Love must ever yet return.

What we now call "finance" is, I hold, an intellectual perversion of what began as warm human love.

I was thinking, "So, I’m Emperor, am I? What nonsense! But at least I'll be able to make people read my books now.

One smile relieves a heart that grieves.

Dare to climb higher heights.

This is what I hate most about guys like you. You didn't even try.

A myth is far truer than a history, for a history only gives a story of the shadows, whereas a myth gives a story of the substances that cast the shadows.

My work has so much to do with reality that I wanted to have a corresponding rightness. That excludes painting in imitation.

Too few is as many as too many.

Cooking is like snow skiing: If you don't fall at least 10 times, then you're not skiing hard enough.

I worked all through my 20's, all through my 30's, so I've been lucky to be working.

Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time... Creative individuals have a combination of playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.

May Allah steal from you All that steals you from Him.

Being a warrior doesn’t mean winning or even succeeding. It means risking and failing and risking again, as long as you live.