Love is the word used to label the sexual excitement of the young, the habituation of the middle-aged, and the mutual dependence of the old. – John Ciardi
You do not have to suffer to be a poet. Adolescence is enough suffering for anyone. – John Ciardi
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