There are distinct duties of a poet laureate. I plan a reading series at the Library of Congress and advise the librarian. The rest is how I want to promote poetry

There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.

I see a resurgence of interest in poetry. I am less optimistic about the prospects for the arts when it comes to federal funding.

All of us have moments in our childhood where we come alive for the first time. And we go back to those moments and think, This is when I became myself.

A good poem is like a bouillon cube. It's concentrated and it nourishes you when you need it.

Courage has nothing to do with our determination to be great. It has to do with what we decide in that moment when we are called upon to be more.

Being true to yourself really means being true to all the complexities of the human spirit.

We should always do something that makes us feel like a child again. Keep learning, no matter what it is.

The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world.

I've always been intrigued by the way history works, the way we decide what is mentioned.

Sometimes a word is found so right it trembles at the slightest explanation.

We hear only our own voices, still echoes returning to our emptiness.

I mean, people think I'm too intense for baseball. I've always excelled to be the best, no matter what, but it's like people think something is wrong with that.

There are two types of stories: public and private.

The unconscious psyche believes in life after death

Never, never try to scope the market.

Your life will be joyful and complete when you have a pure heart and your motives are unsullied.

The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.

It's nice to have a game that sells a million copies.

As long as I can wear something that's not too tight, I can move in it, it's not too thick, and I can breathe, it's great.

Unrequited love's a bore.