“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...”

“The trouble with if only is that it doesnt change anything. It keeps the person facing the wrong way backward instead of forward. It wastes time. In the end, if you let it become a habit, it can b...”

“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.”

“The pleasure of criticizing takes away from us the pleasure of being moved by some very fine things.”

“But instead of spending our lives running towards our dreams, we are often running away from a fear of failure or a fear of criticism.”

“The ugliest government is the one which is spreading fear to its own people! The finest government is the one which encourages its own people to criticize the government harshly.”

“Toxic people sell you short. When you listen to them, you give them power, thats when you sell yourself short.”

“Theb word and the n word are like poison, whether you take poison from a vial or pour it into Bavarian crystal, it is still poison.”

“The saints have to drink poison (worldly suffering) and the world has to drink nectar (worldly pleasures). Because people are weak.”