We have a lot of long narrative poems written in the 20th century, but they're not very well known, and they're not read by very many people.

You have to really dive deep back into yourself and get rid of so much modern analytical categorization. It's one of the great things poetry does.

It was less a literary thing than a linguistic, philosophical preoccupation... discovering how far you can go with language to create immediate, elementary experience.

I have taught students from the New York City area so long I have a special affinity and rapport with them. It surprises me sometimes that there are students from anywhere else.

Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity.

A lot of my students are Asian-American, and it has been thrilling to watch them break through the stereotypes into something alive and surprising.

Maybe the example of Southern fiction writing has been so powerful that Southern poets have sort of keyed themselves to that.

I seem to keep returning to my father in poems because his personality was so extreme, so driven. He did everything to excess.

Fiction is about intimacy with characters, events, places.

Some people want to call me an Appalachian writer, even though I know some people use regional labels to belittle.

The young people have MTV and rock and roll. Why would they go to read poetry? Poetry belongs to the Stone Age. It awakens in us perceptions that go back to those times.

I was born with the ability to see in metaphor.

My country ... gave me schooling independence of action and opportunity for service. ... I am indebted to my country beyond any human power to repay.

Advances in science and medical research and public health policies have meant that life expectancy for Australians is one of the highest in the world.

Every death is like the burning of a library.

A daily routine built on good habits and disciplines separates the most successful among us from everyone else. The routine is exceptionally powerful.

The chief benefit, which results from philosophy, arises in an indirect manner, and proceeds more from its secret, insensible influence, than from its immediate application.

I'm a person who is only invested in the pleasures and enjoyments of life. All the rest is left to the men. I've always remained what you might call "feminine" about the whole [work] thing.

I think hip-hop has more to do with rock and roll. Kanye West is, in many ways, a rock artist.

If you don't control your life, someone else will.

Some actors need to be rattled and some need to be focused