To be perfectly honest the old habits, specifically deadlines, still very much inform what I do. I am brutally disciplined about getting manuscripts in on time.

The most difficult task for anyone wandering through a foreign land with the hope of gaining some insight into it is the profound need to come to terms with the lives and thoughts of strangers.

I find the science behind major natural events almost more interesting than the way in which those same events wreak their effects on human society.

Nothing is eternally stable, and even Kansas isn't really in Kansas anymore. The earth is in a constant state of flux.

I've come to accept who my readers turn out to be, rather than having some sort of demographic target.

I think they will never really enjoy true democracy in China.

I don't hero worship for the sake of hero worship. When I find people who are truly remarkable - and I think Joseph Needham is a classic example - I do value their counsel.

Since when, " he asked, "Are the first line and last line of any poemWhere the poem begins and ends?

Do not let your conscience be clouded by unknown storms. Trust in the atmosphere of spirit that breathes so calmly deep within you at all times.

You can always be a better person, a better version of you, focus on that you do that makes you feel good, cultivateactivities that make you feel in peaceand make them part of your daily life.

All is fair in love and war.

The bigger you get, the harder this gets because the more aggressive the people working for you are.

Ignorance is the source of hatred, and the way to get rid of ignorance is realization.

I try to hold both history and wilderness in mind, that my poems may the true measure of things and stand against the unbalance and ignorance of our times.

I need a break. I've been working for about a year and a half. I think I'd like to go to Pakistan.

Don't worry about what you can't control. Our focus and energy needs to be on the things we CAN control. Attitude, effort, focus- these are the things we can control.

I did a lot of reading of the Bible and became fascinated with the idea of the Rapture. It's pretty wild. I hadn't heard of it until I was in college.