That being said, if you slept with me and are filled with shame at the possibility of the world knowing, then you should have considered that before you hopped into bed with a writer.

I've found that depending on the amount of the check, disciplined inspiration can be called upon willingly. I think the name of the lesser known tenth muse was Dollar Dollar Bill Y'all.

I didn't write poems for a number of years after graduate school because the criticisms of other students in the workshops wouldn't quiet down in my mind when I tried to work.

You know, there are those writers who work at writing every day. I'm not one of those guys. I tend to work at varying levels of intensity, based on the amount of time and energy I have available.

Energy seems to be the more critical of those two variables, because if I'm really feeling the push/pull to write, then I'll make the time.

Every moment, with every heartbeat, we change, but still we fear the change.

The novice spends too much time worrying about what you get.It is all about hoarding.Things.Thoughts.Worries.Appraisals.Love.You name it .

I don't think anybody should ever touch anybody in anger, ever.

I wanted to learn how to paint rather than just doing black-and-white work

Awake before the sun is risen, I call for my pen and papers and desk.

I just like to keep working and being able to pay my bills.

I do not believe there is a method better than Montessori for making children sensitive to the beauties of the world and awakening their curiosity regarding the secrets of life.

Where else but in America could a schoolteacher from Kansas City end up the governor of her adopted state?

The beauty of holiness is that which the grave, that consumes all other beauty, cannot touch, or do any damage to.

Sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.