“Rhythm. Life is full of it; words should have it, too. But you have to train your ear. Listen to the waves on a quiet night; youll pick up the cadence. Look at the patterns the wind makes in dry sa...”

“Words. Just little black marks on paper. Just sounds in the empty air. But think of the power they have! They can make you laugh or cry, love or hate, fight or run away. They can heal or hurt. They...”

“Youre thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isnt at all. Failure is a teacher a harsh one, perhaps, but the best. You say you have a desk full of rejected manuscripts? Thats great! E...”

“Some criticism, no doubt, is constructive, but too much is a subtle poison.”

“Its the person who likes to pat dogs to whom dogs come for pats.”

“Lets not be too harsh where poets are concerned. They have to live in no-mans-land, halfway between dreams and reality.”

“He knew very well that his memory detested him, that it did nothing but slander him; therefore he tried not to believe it and to be more lenient toward his own life. But that didn't help: he took n...”

“All those practice fights when it was just us, two children pretending to be soldiers. Or two soldiers pretending to be children.”

“Whether beautiful or terrible, the past is always a ruin.”

“You never know ahead of time what something's really going to be like.”

“He tried to name which of the deadly seven might apply, and when he failed he decided to append an eighth, regret.”

“I now, weak, old, diseased, poor, dying, hold still my soul in my hands, and I regret nothing.”

“Regrets came up and asked me if Id like to own them. Declined them for the most part but took a few just so I wouldnt leave this relationship empty handed.”