...a man does not die for words. He dies for his relation to them.

For what is a poem but a hazardous attempt at self-understanding: it is the deepest part of autobiography.

They say you are not you except in terms of relation to other people. If there weren't any other people there wouldn't be any you because what you do, which is what you are, only has meaning in relation to other people.

The poet is in the end probably more afraid of the dogmatist who wants to extract the message from the poem and throw the poem away than he is of the sentimentalist who says, "Oh, just let me enjoy the poem."

To be an American is not...a matter of blood; it is a matter of an idea--and history is the image of that idea.

In one deep sense, novels are concealed autobiography. I don't mean that you are telling facts about yourself, but you are trying to find out what you really think or who you are.

Storytelling and copulation are the two chief forms of amusement in the South. They're inexpensive and easy to procure.