"The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in a clarification of life—not necessarily a great clarification, such as Lowell or Emerson or Wordsworth might have given, but a momentary stay …"

"The world is full of people who are always wanting to be somebody else."

"The liberal is a man who can't take his own side in a quarrel."

"I'm not a politician, and I'm not a public speaker. I'm a poet, and I'm going to say what I think, and if you don't like it, you can lump it."

"The world is an apple. You have to bite it."