"You have to be a person of words. You have to be a person of ideas."

"The mind is a peculiar thing. It works in its own ways."

"A poem is never a put-up job, so to speak. It begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness."

"I'm not a nature poet. I have only written two poems without a human being in them."

"The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office."