I see people allowing their lives to diminish, to become shallow, so they can't enjoy the deep wells of experience. Maybe it's always been this way, when the heart tends to shut down. If only the heart shut down and there were no repercussions, it would be O.K., but when the heart shuts down, the whole system goes into a kind of despair that is intolerable.

I am an old scholar, better-looking now than when I was young. That's what sitting on your ass does to your face.

If I knew where the good songs came from, I’d go there more often. It’s a mysterious condition. It’s much like the life of a Catholic nun. You’re married to a mystery.

I think that really what our training, what our culture, our religious institutions, our educational and cultural institutions should be about is preparing the heart for that journey outside of the cage of the ribs.

To have [Adam's Cohen] microscopic attention to my work was really a great privilege.

I can work on a verse for a very long time before realising it's not any good and then, and only then, can I discard it.

I swear by this song and by all that I have done wrong, I will make it all up to thee.