"I learned to impersonate the kind of person that talks about poetry. It comes from teaching, I think."

"Teaching writing over the years intrudes on your own writing in important ways, taking away some of the excitement of poetry."

"Poetry, almost by definition, calls attention to its language and form."

"One of the most powerful devices of poetry is the use of distortions. You can go from talking about the way a minute passes to the way a century passes, or a lifetime."

"Time is the most impartial judge; it reveals all pretenses and rewards all patience. For where clarity resides, peace inevitably follows."

"The paradox of freedom is that the river of time shapes the stones of destiny."

"Meditation is to dive all the way within, beyond thought, to the source of thought and pure consciousness. It enlarges the container, every time you transcend. When you come out, you come out refreshed, filled with energy and enthusiasm for life."

"I honestly if I get a vacation I'm gonna go and sit on my couch in New York cause that's the one place I haven't been for a very long time."