We can make a little order where we are, and then the big sweep of history on which we can have no effect doesn't overwhelm us. We do it with colors, with a garden, with the furnishings of a room, or with sounds and words. We make a little form, and we gain composure.

The world is full of willing people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.

I alone of English writers have consciously set myself to make music out of what I may call the sound of sense.

I'm always saying something that's just the edge of something more.

Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.

The people I am most afraid of are those who are the most afraid.

Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.