When things get really bad, just raise your glass and stamp your feet and do a little jig. That's about all you can do.

This is the most challenging activity that humans get into, which is love. You know, where we have the sense that we can't live without love. That life has very little meaning without love.

Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.

You can keep the body as well-oiled and receptive as possible, but whether you're actually going to be able to go for the long haul is really not your own choice.

There are writers who are great visionaries, who can depict huge movements - things like that. They're the great writers. I'm just the other kind.

I don't like to say bad things about paleontologists, but they're not very good scientists. They're more like stamp collectors.