To be happy means to be free, not from pain or fear, but from care or anxiety.

It's better to say, 'I'm suffering,' than to say, 'This landscape is ugly.

See without looking, hear without listening, breathe without asking.

A poet, qua poet, has only one political duty, namely, in his own writing to set an example of the correct use of his mother tongue, which is always being corrupted. When words lose their meaning, physical force takes over.

A writer, or at least a poet, is always being asked by people who should know better: “Whom do you write for?” The question is, of course, a silly one, but I can give it a silly answer. Occasionally I come across a book which I feel has been written especially for me and for me only. Like a jealous lover I don’t want anybody else to hear of it. To have a million such readers, unaware of each other’s existence, to be read with passion and never talked about, is the daydream, surely, of every author.

Weep for the lives your wishes never led.

Though one cannot always Remember exactly why one has been happy, There is no forgetting that one was.