I'm glad I understand that while language is a gift, listening is a responsibility. (U.S. poet and writer, 1943- )

My main strength as a young writer was that I had no fear of making mistakes. I knew I would and I knew I could and would learn from them.

And like an unfaithful mate, once a car has let you down you never sort of trust it again.

I was responding to one thing for the woman I knew, and there's another thing for what did she give, right. She [Nina Simone] was a great teacher.

America may not be the best nation on earth, but it has conceived loftier ideals and dreamed higher dreams than any other nation. America is a heterogeneous nation of many different people of different races, religions, and creeds. Should this experiment go forth and prosper, we will have offered humans a new way to look at life; should it fail, we will simply go the way of all failed civilizations.

Fanatics are, for one thing, boring and, for another, unreliable. They tend to burn out just when you need them.

Death is a slave's freedom.