The poet may be used as a barometer, but let us not forget that he is also part of the weather.

We are at heart so profoundly anarchistic that the only form of state we can imagine living in is Utopian; and so cynical that the only Utopia we can believe in is authoritarian.

Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal.

Where misunderstanding serves others as an advantage, one is helpless to make oneself understood.

Being a Jew is like walking in the wind or swimming: you are touched at all points and conscious everywhere.

The poet is in command of his fantasy, while it is exactly the mark of the neurotic that he is possessed by his fantasy.

What marks the artist is his power to shape the material of pain we all have.

It is now life and not art that requires the willing suspension of disbelief.

Unless we insist that politics is imagination and mind, we will learn that imagination and mind are politics, and of a kind we will not like.

It is possible that the contemplation of cruelty will not make us humane but cruel; that the reiteration of the badness of our spiritual condition will make us consent to it.

The immature artist imitates. The mature artist steals.

We all know that a sky with clouds in it is much more interesting than one that doesn’t have any.

Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity.

All I had was the will and the love for music. I couldn't read music or write it. No connections, no car, no money, no bankroll, no clothes, no nothing.

You know, I'm from the Midwest, man - that shapes my personality much more than having gone to Harvard.

Riches are a good hand maiden, but a poor mistress.

Kindness has converted more sinners than either zeal, eloquence, or learning; and these three last have never converted any.

There are a lot of unseen elements to having a successful singing career.

Valek: You know a death sentence hasn't kept us apart before. Yelena: Is that an order Valek? Valek: No, it's a promise!

As we awaken individually, we will act more powerfully collectively.

Art is triumphant when it can use convention as an instrument of its own purpose.