When we are touched by a song, it is because the artist cannot hide himself.

Poetry is a verdict rather than an intention.

You who wish to conquer pain, you must learn what makes one kind.

I'm planning a catastrophe.

I think that any songwriter - and I think that Bob Dylan knows this more than all of us - you don't write the songs anyhow.

The obstacles are great and the suffering is great and people have got to make a living.

There's no concession to the fact that Dylan might be a more sophisticated singer than Whitney Houston, that he's probably the most sophisticated singer we've had in a generation. Nobody is identifying our popular singers like a Matisse or Picasso. Dylan's a Picasso - that exuberance, range, and assimilation of the whole history of music.