Art always opts for the individual, the concrete; art is not Platonic.

So plant your own gardens and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time.

Don't talk unless you can improve the silence.

I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities I have visited.

I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.

The worst labyrinth is not that intricate form that can entrap us forever, but a single and precise straight line

The fact is that poetry is not the books in the library . . . Poetry is the encounter of the reader with the book, the discovery of the book.

Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone.

I can give you my loneliness, my darkness, the hunger of my heart, I am trying to bribe you with uncertainty, with danger, with defeat.

The original is unfaithful to the translation.

Be at peace with yourself and with all humankind.

The full life depends, not on the range of experience but on the intensity of the interest, the emotion involved, and on its being a personal interest.

That's what is great about what I do, going from one job to the other.

Which is crueler, an old man's lost memories of a life lived, or a young man's lost memories of the life he meant to live?

What makes me most happy is connecting with others. I love meeting new people, being social, and engaging in empowering discussions.

Today, use your words to lift up and bless the people around you.

I don't think my moped could outrun a cheetah.

I remember telling ghost stories with my cousins when I was four, five, six-years-old. I've just always loved it. But I think you're drawn to things you're terrified of.

Say your truth-kindly, but fully and completely. Live your truth, gently, but totally and consistently. Change your truth easily and quickly when your experience brings you new clarity.

Taken together, our songs are like a mural of our lives.