Think small.... If you can't think small, try philosophy or social criticism.

You owe reality nothing and the truth about your feelings everything.

To write a poem you must have a streak of arrogance-- not in real life I hope. In real life try to be nice. It will save you a hell of a lot of trouble and give you more time to write.

A creative writing class may be one of the last places you can go where your life still matters.

Assuming you can write clear English sentences, give up all worry about communication. If you want to communicate, use the telephone.

An act of imagination is an act of self-acceptance.

Don't write love poems when you're in love. Write them when you're not in love.

Say nothing and just make music and you'll find plenty to say.

Don't write with a pen. Ink tends to give the impression the words shouldn't be changed.

A good creative-writing teacher can save a good writer a lot of time.

Never want to say anything so strongly that you give up the option of finding something better. If you have to say it, you will.

Writers are not here to conform. We are here to challenge. We're not here to be comfortable—we're here, really, to shake things up. That's our job.

[S]omething had to change. Because I had changed.

Despite being what would now be called a deprived child in a one parent family, I did not grow up with an urge to smash windows or to bash old ladies over the head in order to steal handbags.

Improving Africa's farming sector would have multiple positive outcomes for African people.

In the whole story of the world, bananas have never once been a special treat.

If you can just be yourself, then you have to be original because there's no one like you.

I can't remember ever having a conversation about the definition of consent when I was a kid. I knew that no meant no, but that's it.

Money and writing appear to be mutually exclusive.

Our thoughts are a field of energy cycles, a mind field, and just by our thoughts alone we impact not only ourselves but those around us as well.

The instruments of darkness tell us truths.