I prefer to be subcultural rather than mass-cultural. I'm not interested in hitting the vein of the mainstream.

A lot of poets too live on the margins of social acceptance, they certainly aren't in it for the money. William Blake - only his first book was legitimately published.

I didn't get my degree at NYU; I got it later, they gave me an honourary one.

I think of poets as outlaw visionaries in a way.

When I get depressed, or anything, I go 'think of all the music I haven't even heard yet!' So, it's the one thing. Imagine the world without music. Man, just hand me a gun, will you?

If anyone tells you there is only one way, their way, get as far away from them as possible, both physically and philosophically.

It's hard to get lost if you don't know where you're going.

The beauty of life is in small details, not in big events.

Each one of us is a set of shifting molecules, spinning in ecstasy.

The counterculture is always repackaged and made into a product. It's part of America.

Jim Jarmusch: Poets are always ahead of things in a certain way, their sense of language and their vision.

Believe in the strength of your own resolve.

There are some people who believe that home is where one hangs one's hat, but these people tend to live in closets and on little pegs.

I am always true to myself, that is the problem. Who else could I be true to?

One of the advantages of having lived a long time is that you can often remember when you had it worse. I am grateful to have lived long enough to have known some of the blessings of adversity.

So I observe life a little bit, rather than participating in it.

A magazine or a newspaper is a shop. Each is an experiment and represents a new focus, a new ratio between commerce and intellect.

Write me as one who loves his fellow men.

Everything is scary if you look at it. So you just got to live.

Without a doubt in sketch comedy there are fewer women than men.

It's not wise to violate rules until you know how to observe them.