Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

And none will hear the postman’s knock Without a quickening of the heart. For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

God may reduce you on Judgment Day to tears of shame, reciting by heart the poems you would have written, had your life been good.

The primary function of poetry, as of all the arts, is to make us more aware of ourselves and the world around us. I do not know if such increased awareness makes us more moral or more efficient. I hope not. I think it makes us more human, and I am quite certain it makes us more difficult to deceive.

The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order that I may love myself is very different from the image which I try to create in the minds of others in order that they may love me.

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

There has been a vast output of critical studies in contemporary poetry, some of them first rate, but I do not think that , as a rule, a poet should read them.