I've always preferred mythology to history. History is truth that becomes an illusion. Mythology is an illusion that becomes reality.

I have seafoam in my veins, I understand the language of waves.

I feel myself inhabited by a force or being -- very little known to me. It gives the orders; I follow.

Emotion resulting from a work of art is only of value when it is not obtained by sentimental blackmail.

Never do what a specialist can do better. Discover your own specialty. Do not despair if your specialty appears to be more delicate, a lesser thing. Make up in finesse what you lose in force.

Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping.

The job of the poet (a job which can't be learned) consists of placing those objects of the visible world which have become invisible due to the glue of habit, in an unusual position which strikes the soul and gives them a tragic force.