The most beautiful people are all in the library.

My mother ... had a very deep inner spirituality that allowed her to rebuild her life. It's extraordinary that she had such a strong sense of self and such a commitment to the future and such a strong creative sense that she could build new worlds for herself and for us out of the total devastation in her life.

I'm not as shy as everybody makes me out to be.

Change isn't easy, it takes time.

The biggest problem is people are afraid of poetry, think they can't understand it or that it will be boring.

When you make the right decision, it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks.

Well, I think, you know, the arts are really what - one of the things that make this country strong. We always think it's our economy or our military power, but in fact, I think it's our culture, our civilization, our ideas, our creativity.