Oh let us not be condemned for what we are. It is enough to account for what we do.

The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation.

Imitation, if it is not forgery, is a fine thing. It stems from a generous impulse, and a realistic sense of what can and cannot be done.

The lullaby is the spell whereby the mother attempts to transform herself back from an ogre to a saint.

Babies are not brought by storks and poets are not produced by workshops.

Hearing that the same men who brought us 'South Park' were mounting a musical to be called 'The Book of Mormon,' we were tempted to turn away, as from an inevitable massacre.

One does not become a guru by accident.

Windbags can be right. Aphorists can be wrong. It is a tough world.

In rap, as in most popular lyrics, a very low standard is set for rhyme; but this was not always the case with popular music.

My feeling is that poetry will wither on the vine if you don't regularly come back to the simplest fundamentals of the poem: rhythm, rhyme, simple subjects - love, death, war.

English poetry begins whenever we decide to say the modern English language begins, and it extends as far as we decide to say that the English language extends.

His shout was a syllable so ancient and powerful that Saffiyah's mind instantly censored it.

Lately, Mami’s eyes have been so dark, I don’t like looking into them because I’m afraid I’ll fall in.

Theirs was a long, complicated story with a monster and a knight. What made their story unique was that these two players were the same person.

High-speed rail would revolutionise interstate travel and would also be an economic game-changer for dozens of regional communities along its path.

We keep so busy talking we are so keen to act that we forget that in the heart lies all we need untapped, intact.

Authors have odd relationships with their creations They owe their fame and fortune to their characters but feel enslaved by them.

The most important relationship is the mind's relationship with itself. In other words, the ultimate - and, really, the only - relationship you have is the relationship with your own thoughts.

I don't go to parties. I don't go to clubs. My friends and I don't go drinking, we play D&D. I'm still a weird entity in the world.

I used to live an isolated existence, even in relationships, but now my family knows me for who I really am. Mostly, that's a good thing.

I like Thelonious Monk, he's so gnarled, he's like a piece of machinery that's pulled up the bolts on the floor and gone off on its own.