there is no aristocracy of grief. Grief is a great leveler.

The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.

It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded.

By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class.

The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea.

Men kick friendship around like a football, but it doesn't seem to crack. Women treat it like glass and it goes to pieces.

I feel we are all islands - in a common sea.

A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one's husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it.

My passport photo is one of the most remarkable photographs I have ever seen- no retouching, no shadows, no flattery-just stark me.

When I cannot write a poem, I bake biscuits and feel just as pleased.

Don't wish me happiness - I don't expect to be happy it's gotten beyond that, somehow. Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor - I will need them all.

Love is the unity of two souls but one spirit.

God has taken you from something in order to you to something.

The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don't have to explain things with words.

the only people worth writing about are those about whom the last word cannot be said.

Women are needed in the military because there aren't enough soldiers, and we're seeing more women serve.

I was in college in the '60s, and the whole feminist movement had swept me up.

I feel it is our inherent duty as a humane society, above any intangible responsibility, to invest in our world's children's potential, passion and confidence.

I've been followed home late at night. I've been shot at on the highway.

BEFORE THERE WAS BILLY COLLINS & TED KOOSER, THERE WAS EDGAR GUEST

[On Venice:] A wondrous city of fairest carving, reflected in gleaming waters swirled to new patterning by every passing gondola.