To forget the self is to remember that we don't exist alone, but in relation to other people, to other creatures, to the planet, and to the universe.

We're never called on to do what hurts. We just do what hurts out of ignorance and habit. Once we see what we're doing, we can stop.

[T]here is really nothing 'out there' to get because, already, within this moment, everything is whole and complete.

The impossibility of arriving at Truth by giving up your own authority and following the lights of others. Such a path will only lead to an opinion.

[I]mpermanence [is] the very thing that makes [life] vibrant, wonderful, and alive.

[A] book is not merely a book, it is the sun as well.

There's no rule in the end, but only the situation and the inclination of your mind

[H]ow can something cease to exist that has no solid existence in the first place?

The only way we can be free in each moment is to become what each moment is.

How can a hard and fast view of a world that is never hard and fast possibly be accurate?

Truth is not … something to believe or disbelieve. The things we believe are always less than Truth[.]

Action may not always bring happiness

The day of the daredevil reporter who refuses to see obstacles to getting the truth, and seeing it with his or her own eyes, seems to have died.

I tend to write poetry that is rich in data of various sorts. The lyric poem isn't perfectly suited to accommodating such data, so I've had to find new ways to say everything that I want to say.

In any of the arts, you never stop learning.

The literary man? An indiscreet man, who devaluates his miseries, divulges them, tells them like so many beads: immodesty-the sideshow of second thoughts-is his rule; he offers himself.

In the great scheme of things, what matters is not how long you live but why you live, what you stand for and what you are willing to die for.

Don't rest on your laurels. There's always going to be someone behind you who's going to be better than you. So you need to get out there and keep working.

I don't like L.A. I've always said that, and people hate on me for it. I don't really like the city.

There is probably no greater anxiety in life than going home to visit your mother for Christmas.

It's good to touch the green, green grass of home