Sometimes when we have to speak suddenly we come closer to the truth than when we have time to think.

Compassion is nothing one feels with the intellect alone. Compassion is particular; it is never general.

The joys of love...last only a moment. The sorrows of love last all the life long.

My protagonists, male and female, are me.

You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.

I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius, or something very small, comes to the artist and says, "Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me."

To share poetry is one of the most intimate acts of friendship possible.