A poem with grandly conceived and executed stanzas, such as one of Keats's odes, should be like an enfilade of rooms in a palace: one proceeds, with eager anticipation, from room to room.

The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation.

Imitation, if it is not forgery, is a fine thing. It stems from a generous impulse, and a realistic sense of what can and cannot be done.

The lullaby is the spell whereby the mother attempts to transform herself back from an ogre to a saint.

Babies are not brought by storks and poets are not produced by workshops.

Hearing that the same men who brought us 'South Park' were mounting a musical to be called 'The Book of Mormon,' we were tempted to turn away, as from an inevitable massacre.

One does not become a guru by accident.

Windbags can be right. Aphorists can be wrong. It is a tough world.

In rap, as in most popular lyrics, a very low standard is set for rhyme; but this was not always the case with popular music.

My feeling is that poetry will wither on the vine if you don't regularly come back to the simplest fundamentals of the poem: rhythm, rhyme, simple subjects - love, death, war.

English poetry begins whenever we decide to say the modern English language begins, and it extends as far as we decide to say that the English language extends.

Art makes murder into the supreme image of Beauty and in doing so sets free the vengeful God. (referring to Jean Lorrain's LE VICE ERRANT)

I'm not here to change the world, just your perception of it.

If it's very painful for you to criticize your friends-you're safe in doing it. But if you take the slightest pleasure in it that's the time to hold your tongue.

The secret of discipline is motivation. When a man is sufficiently motivated discipline will take care of itself.

I don't have any [favourite role]. I'm just a working actor.

Respect for leaders by followers can't be mandated; it must be earned. It has to be given to leaders by their followers.

In the center of a hurricane there is absolute peace and quiet. There is no safer place than in the center of the will of God

What happens if you drop all the things that make you I?

He who does not trust enough will not be trusted.

The beginning of every government starts with the education of our youth.