It's a good thing to get poetry off the shelves and more into public life.

One of the ridiculous aspects of being a poet is the huge gulf between how seriously we take ourselves and how generally we are ignored by everybody else.

A motto I've adopted is, if at first you don't succeed, hide all evidence that you ever tried.

The mind can be trained to relieve itself on paper.

Poetry is like standing on the edge of a lake on a moonlit night and the light of the moon is always pointing straight at you.

Nationalism is a type of insanity in which the boundaries of a land replace God.

In the process of simplifying oneself, one often discovers the thing called voice.

Write the poem only you can write.

But my heart is always propped up in a field on its tripod, ready for the next arrow.

But tonight, the lion of contentment has placed a warm heavy paw on my chest.

While the novelist is banging on his typewriter, the poet is watching a fly in the windowpane.

Think not of the fragility of life, but of the power of books, when mere words can change our lives simply by being next to each other.

We are creatures of habit more than we are creatures of change.

Everything is false, everything is possible, everything is doubtful.

I want to make sure that as president of the United States that I'm not asserting in some way that my decisions overrule the decisions of prosecutors who are there to uphold the law.

Sure my career means a hell of a lot, but it will never come before Sandy and my son.

Can we not say 'dumped' and 'Bellas' in the same sentence, please?

The myths have always condemned those who 'looked back.' Condemned them, whatever the paradise may have been which they were leaving. Hence this shadow over each departure from your decision.

Honesty is the cruelest game of all, because not only can you hurt someone - and hurt them to the bone - you can feel self-righteous about it at the same time.

Do you ever wonder whether people would like you more or less if they could see inside you?

I'd much rather win in three or four sets than go the distance all the time. I seem to put everyone through the wringer quite a bit.