I sometimes talk about the making of a poem within the poem.

Nothing in the universe can travel at the speed of light, they say, forgetful of the shadow's speed.

For a Jewish Puritan of the middle class, the novel is serious, the novel is work, the novel is conscientious application why, the novel is practically the retail business all over again.

A teacher is a person who never says anything once.

Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

I like all my children, even the squat and ugly ones.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely; and if you surrender your personal responsibility to a government which promises to take care of you, they will only take care of themselves.

When Robert Frost was alive, I was known as the other new England poet, which is to be barely known at all.

Robert Frost had always said you mustn't think of the last line first, or it's only a fake poem, not a real one. I'm inclined to agree.

[T]eaching has been for me an education (Lord knows what it has been for my students).

If they know you're a nibbler, they're going to wait and look for that. Hitters have to be more aggressive if you're more aggressive.

O passing angel, speed me with a song, a melody of heaven to reach my heart and rouse me to the race and make me strong.

I was born trash in a land where the people all believe themselves natural aristocrats.

Most power is lost in one's own mind by thinking negative thoughts, by worrying about the future, by focusing on the past, as opposed to thinking positive, strong, and happy thoughts.

He was an embittered atheist, the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him.

I got into acting to get my foot in the door for film-making.

Some British actors are snobby about telly, and I don't understand that.

A writer never reads his work. For him, it is the unreadable, a secret, and he cannot remain face to face with it. A secret, because he is separated from it.

Devotion to God is studying him in every aspect; serving God is teaching what you know of Him to others.

The joy is in the creation. So I've never had a target audience, it's always been about being true to the work as it emerges.