At some unnoticed moment, I began to understand that a life is written in indelible ink.

You may do this, I tell you, it is permitted. Begin again the story of your life.

The heat of autumn is different from the heat of summer. One ripens apples, the other turns them to cider.

Zen pretty much comes down to three things -- everything changes; everything is connected; pay attention.

How fragile we are, between the few good moments.

Habit, laziness, and fear conspire to keep us comfortably within the familiar.

How silently the heart pivots on its hinge.

Existence itself is nothing if not an amazement. Good poems restore amazement.

Something looks back from the trees, and knows me for who I am.

In sorrow, pretend to be fearless. In happiness, tremble.

You must try, the voice said, to become colder. I understood at once. It's like the bodies of gods: cast in bronze, braced in stone. Only something heartless could bear the full weight.

If I were given the opportunity to present a gift to the next generation, it would be the ability for each individual to learn to laugh at himself.

Love at first sight? Let me just put on my glasses.

Sympathy is the child of imagination

You will meet happiness on your way if you just stop looking for happiness desperately! Live your life without looking for anything!

Currently, only 70 percent of our high school students earn diplomas with their peers, and less than one-third of our high school students graduate prepared for success in a four-year college.

I've sort of closed my mind off to reality shows: I just don't watch them, don't care about them, don't know who the characters are, but they're all in general usage.

It’s up to you to make everyday as perfect as possible. It’s a question of will and discipline.

Your name or your body, what is dearer? Your body or your wealth, what is worthier?

I'm basically a poetry scholar, and I'm happier here in my studio with my row of Chinese dictionaries than I am, frankly, at Lincoln Center.

Man cannot live in the midst of plenty.