Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure whether they have it until the test comes.

Gather the stars if you wish it so Gather the songs and keep them. Gather the faces of women. Gather for keeping years and years. And then... Loosen your hands, let go and say good-bye. Let the stars and songs go. Let the faces and years go. Loosen your hands and say good-bye.

Now is the time. It is never too late to start something.

The scholars and poets of an earlier time can be read only with a dictionary to help.

Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable.

So I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them: Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.

The greatest certainty in life is death. The greatest uncertainty is the time.