The art of reading is the art of adopting the pace the author has set. Some books are fast and some are slow, but no book can be understood if it is taken at the wrong speed.

I have always had the greatest respect for students. There is nothing I hate more than condescension—the attitude that they are inferior to you. I always assume they have good minds.

Nothing in man is more serious than his sense of humor; it is the sign that he wants all the truth.

There is one thing we can do, and the happiest of people are those who do it to the limit of their ability. We can be completely present.

Wit is the only wall between us and the dark.

The job of the poet is to render the world-to see it and report it without loss, without perversion. No poet ever talks about feelings. Only sentimental people do.

If you look around the table and you can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.