The older we get, the more Jewish we become in my family.

I never became a writer for the money. I am a poet first. Even getting published is a miracle for poets.

Pleasure is terrifying because it breaks down the boundaries between people. Embracing passion means living with fear.

All authors know that any book is a casting of runes, a reading of cards, a map of the palm and heart. We make up the ocean - then fall in. But we also write the life raft.

What is the fatal charm of Italy? What do we find there that can be found nowhere else? I believe it is a certain permission to be human, which other places, other countries, lost long ago.

Life has no plot. It is by far more interesting than anything you can say about it.

Don't ye know that ev'ry Soul on Earth feels itself to be an Orphan?