There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can't move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.
A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age.
To be a poet is a condition, not a profession.
Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.
Dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire.
I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain – and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light. I have looked down the saddest city lane. I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.
I’d like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over. May no fate wilfully misunderstand me And half grant what I wish and snatch me away Not to return. Earth’s the right place for love: I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.
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.
A good book has no ending.
A poem begins with a lump in the throat; a homesickness or a love sickness. It is a reaching-out toward expression; an effort to find fulfillment. A complete poem is one where an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.
A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body – the wishbone.
By faithfully working eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.
Good fences make good neighbors.
A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain.
A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.
Hope is not found in a way out but a way through.
Unless you are at home in the metaphor, you are not safe anywhere.
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. It is never a thought to begin with.
I’ve given offense by saying I’d as soon write free verse as play tennis with the net down.