When I am in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room full of dukes.

Encased in talent like a uniform, The rank of every poet is well known; They can amaze us like a thunderstorm, Or die so young, or live for years alone.

Machines have no political opinions, but they have profound political effects. They demand a strict regimentation of time, and, by abolishing the need for manual skill, have transformed the majority of the population from workers into laborers. There are, that is to say, fewer and fewer jobs which a man can find a pride and satisfaction in doing well, more and more which have no interest in themselves and can be valued only for the money they provide.

A poet can write about a man slaying a dragon, but not about a man pushing a button that releases a bomb.

The relation of faith between subject and object is unique in every case. Hundreds may believe, but each has to believe by himself.

One demands two things of a poem. Firstly, it must be a well-made verbal object that does honor to the language in which it is written. Secondly, it must say something significant about a reality common to us all, but perceived from a unique perspective. What the poet says has never been said before, but, once he has said it, his readers recognize its validity for themselves.

There are good books which are only for adults. There are no good books which are only for children.