Poetry comes with anger, hunger and dismay; it does not often visit groups of citizens sitting down to be literary together, and would appall them if it did. – Christopher Morley, John Mistletoe
The mystic purchases a moment of exhilaration with a lifetime of confusion and the confusion is infectious and destructive. It is confusing and destructive to try and explain anything in terms of anything else, poetry in terms of psychology. – Basil Bunting
I much prefer working with kids whose life could be completely upended by a reading of a book over a weekend. You give them a book to read – they go home and come back a changed person. And that is so much more interesting and exciting. – Russell Banks
Just this morning, out of a large memory for songs, and having been obsessed by them since childhood, suddenly, at the age of 84, I thought of a song I hadnt thought of in over 50 years. It came into my head unbidden. – Tom Glazer
We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience. – George Washington
