I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years - or longer.

There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.

I see a resurgence of interest in poetry. I am less optimistic about the prospects for the arts when it comes to federal funding.

All of us have moments in our childhood where we come alive for the first time. And we go back to those moments and think, This is when I became myself.

A good poem is like a bouillon cube. It's concentrated and it nourishes you when you need it.

Courage has nothing to do with our determination to be great. It has to do with what we decide in that moment when we are called upon to be more.

Being true to yourself really means being true to all the complexities of the human spirit.

We should always do something that makes us feel like a child again. Keep learning, no matter what it is.

The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world.

I've always been intrigued by the way history works, the way we decide what is mentioned.

Sometimes a word is found so right it trembles at the slightest explanation.

If during the day, a person did not do anything about his purpose and calling, he did nothing at all

I never reread what I've written. I'm far too afraid to feel ashamed of what I've done.

Give a man a proverb

IF YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING THAT TERRIFIES YOU, MOST LIKELY YOU'RE DOING THE RIGHT THING.

Books make me feel safe. Books make me feel normal.

Flowers rejoice when night is done, Lift their heads to greet the sun; Sweetest looks and odours raise, In a silent hymn of praise.

In fact, words are well adapted for description and the arousing of emotion, but for many kinds of precise thought other symbols are much better.

Really great design is hard. Good is the enemy of great.

I pray that when people hear my music, they say at the very least 'man I'm glad that someone else feels that way too.'