A poem begins with a lump in the throat; a homesickness or a love sickness. It is a reaching-out toward expression; an effort to find fulfillment. A complete poem is one where an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.

All there is to writing is having ideas. To learn to write is to learn to have ideas.

He burned his house down for the fire insurance and spent the proceeds on a telescope.

Don't be agnostic - be something.

Humor is the most engaging cowardice.

Writing a poem is discovering.

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