If a poet has any obligation toward society, it is to write well. Being in the minority, he has no other choice. Failing this duty, he sinks into oblivion. Society, on the other hand, has no obligation toward the poet.

The surest defense against Evil is extreme individualism, originality of thinking, whimsicality, even - if you will - eccentricity. That is, something that can't be feigned, faked, imitated; something even a seasoned imposter couldn't be happy with.

As long as the state permits itself to interfere in the affairs of literature, literature has the right to interfere with the affairs of state.

Poetry is not only the most concise way of conveying the human experience; it also offers the highest possible standards for any linguistic operation.

At certain periods of history it is only poetry that is capable of dealing with reality by condensing it into something graspable, something that otherwise wouldn't be retained by the mind.

Poetry is what is gained in translation.

When I'm not writing or reading, I'm thinking about both.