Sometimes you find that what is most personal is also what connects you most strongly with others.

Paul Goodman was not ahead of his time but IN his time.

To translate a poem from thinking into English takes all night.

The word career is a divisive word. It's a word that divides the normal life from business or professional life.

I don't believe civilization can do a lot more than educate a person's senses.

The only thing you should have to do is find work you love to do. And I can't imagine living without having loved a person. A man, in my case. It could be a woman, but whatever. I think, what I always tell kids when they get out of class and ask, 'What should I do now?' I always say, 'Keep a low overhead. You're not going to make a lot of money.' And the next thing I say: 'Don't live with a person who doesn't respect your work.' That's the most important thing—that's more important than the money thing. I think those two things are very valuable pieces of information.

Every time you finish something ... you figure you've finally learned to write, right? Then you start something else and it turns out you haven't. You have learned how to write that story, or that book, but you haven't learned how to write the next one.