Let all the poison that lurks in the mud, hatch out.

Love is a universal migraine. A bright stain on the vision, Blotting out reason.

There is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting.

There's no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money, either.

Every English poet should master the rules of grammar before he attempts to bend or break them.

The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he really is very good, in spite of all the people who say he is very good.

Kill if you must, but never hate: Man is but grass and hate is blight, The sun will scorch you soon or late, Die wholesome then, since you must fight

I was last in Rome in AD 540 when it was full of Goths and their heavy horses. It has changed a great deal since then.

New beginnings and new shoots Spring again from hidden roots Pull or stab or cut or burn, Love must ever yet return.

What we now call "finance" is, I hold, an intellectual perversion of what began as warm human love.

I was thinking, "So, I’m Emperor, am I? What nonsense! But at least I'll be able to make people read my books now.

Dreams don't work unless you take action. The surest way to make your dreams come true is to live them.

I tell the audience every night, "I hope you didn't pay more than face value on that ticket, because we ain't worth more than that, and you ain't gonna get any more than that."

A philosopher may deplore the eternal discords of the human race, but he will confess, that the desire of spoil is a more rational provocation than the vanity of conquest.

For me, creativity includes problem-solving. That's the broad definition of it.

I've worked so hard to keep this family together.

At my age, I'm often asked if I'm frightened of death and my reply is always, I can't remember being frightened of birth.

Improvisation is empowering because it welcomes the unknown. And since what's impossible is always unknown, it allows me to believe I can cheat the impossible.

I've always tried different stuff in the studio. I use rakes, spoons, cans... I'm a surround-sound type of guy.

The most important thing we stressed is that we want those kids to be productive citizens.

It is remarkable how a seemingly insignificant action or event can change entire lives.