"I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes, so live not in your yesterdays, no just for tomorrow, but in the here and now. Keep moving and forget the post mortems; and remember, no one can get the jump on the future."

"Ordering a man to write a poem is like commanding a pregnant woman to give birth to a red-headed child."

"Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me."

"When I was writing pretty poor poetry, this girl with midnight black hair told me to go on."

"His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly's wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterfly did and he did not know when it was brushed or marred."

"I like the desert for short periods of time, from inside a car, with the windows rolled up, and the doors locked. I prefer beach resorts with room service."

"Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now."

"A globalized world is by now a familiar fact of life. Building walls or moats may sound appealing, but the future belongs to those who tend to their people and then boldly engage the rest of the world, near and far."