I'm never quite sure how the poem is going to resolve itself and that I'm always in some way surprised. I make a discovery in a poem as I write it.

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.

The strength of love is beyond measure.

Your goal is to launch an imperfect product and let people laugh at you.

Data are becoming the new raw material of business.

The entertainment business is not the be-all and end-all for me.

Once kitsch is interpreted ironically, it ceases to be kitsch

I have short hands. That's why I have to bend up to notes; I can't always reach the frets.

Hear from the heart wordless mysteries.

The vast majority of fiction is written to markets and to this damnable business we have nowadays of categorizing everything.

We live the given life, and not the planned.