Poetry is a domestic art, most itself when most at home.

Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.

Believe that a further shore is reachable from here.

Even if the hopes you started out with are dashed, hope has to be maintained.

Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.

I can't think of a case where poems changed the world, but what they do is they change people's understanding of what's going on in the world.

If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way.

History says, Don’t hope On this side of the grave, But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme

Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.

All I know is a door into the dark

I have begun to think of life as a series of ripples widening out from an original center.

It’s never overreacting to ask for what you want and need.

If we don't fight for what we 'stand for' with our passionate words and honest actions, do we really 'stand' for anything?

Give full attention to life’s moments and the images you capture will be everlasting.

If Galileo had said in verse that the world moved the Inquisition might have let him alone.

When you empty yourself of the illusions of who and what you think you are, there is less to lose than you had feared.

If you want to give a man something practical, consider tires. More than once, I would have gladly traded all the gifts I got for a new set of tires.

We cannot restore integrity and morality to our society until each of us-singly and individually-takes responsibility for our actions.

Wherever I am in the world, I never get Sunday night blues. I suppose it's because I've never worked at any one thing long enough to start hating it.

There can be no education without leisure; and without leisure, education is worthless.

When you grow up in a place (whether as a child or an adult) you squeeze everything out of it. You need so much when you're young.