Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal, with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope. – John Ciardi
What has any poet to trust more than the feel of the thing? Theory concerns him only until he picks up his pen, and it begins to concern him again as soon as he lays it down. – John Ciardi
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in the students. – John Ciardi
You do not have to suffer to be a poet. Adolescence is enough suffering for anyone. – John Ciardi
Washingtons answer to a self-inflicted financial crisis reminded Americans why they so deeply distrust the political class. The fiscal cliff process was secretive and sloppy, and the nations so-called leadership lacked the political courage to address our root problems: joblessness and debt. – Ron Fournier
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide. – Abraham Lincoln