Being alive is so extraordinary I donโt know why people limit it to riches, pride, securityโall of those things life is built on. People miss so much because they want money and comfort and pride, a house and a job to pay for the house. And they have to get a car. You canโt see anything from a car. Itโs moving too fast. People take vacations. Thatโs their rewardโthe vacation. Why not the life?
Jack GilbertWhen I was walking in the mountains with the Japanese man and began to hear the water, he said, 'What is the sound of the waterfall?' 'Silence,' he finally told me.
Jack GilbertI'm vain enough to think that I've made a successful life. I've had everything I've ever wanted. You can't beat that.
Jack GilbertI like ornament at the right time, but I don't want a poem to be made out of decoration ... When I read the poems that matter to me, it stuns me how much the presence of the heart-in all its forms-is endlessly available there. To experience ourselves in an important way just knocks me out. It puzzles me why people have given that up for cleverness. Some of them are ingenious, more ingenious than I am, but so many of them aren't any good at being alive.
Jack Gilbert