It's not always easy to tell the difference between thinking and looking out of the window.

Most people read poetry listening for echoes because the echoes are familiar to them. They wade through it the way a boy wades through water, feeling with his toes for the bottom: The echoes are the bottom.

In European thought in general, as contrasted with American, vigor, life and originality have a kind of easy, professional utterance. American -- on the other hand, is expressed in an eager amateurish way. A European gives a sense of scope, of survey, of consideration. An American is strained, sensational. One is artistic gold; the other is bullion.

The poet's function is to make his imagination . . . become the light in the mind of others. His role, in short, is to help people to live their lives.

Success as a result of industry is a peasant's ideal.

The reason can give nothing at all Like the response to desire.

A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman.