I was appointed Poet Laureate. It came totally out of the blue because most Poet Laureates had been considerably older than I. It was not something that I even had begun to dream about!

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.

DISARM ALL RAPISTSBut what will we doWith their legs?

God against man. Man against God. Man against nature. Nature against man. Nature against God. God against nature. Very funny religion!

It is the fate of every truth to be an object of ridicule when it is first acclaimed.

Help us to recognize your voice, help us not to be allured by the madness of the world, so that we may never fall away from you, O Lord Jesus Christ.

Everyone has class, one class or another.

The longer I live, the more convinced am I that this planet is used by other planets as a lunatic asylum.

Women hate revolutions and revolutionists. They like men who are docile, and well-regarded at the bank, and never late at meals.

When you have a heart to serve and help others it unlocks something in you

oh you do smell good.

Somebody's got to be last. Somebody's going to be first.