“Be patient, work hard and consistently, have faith in your writing, and don't be afraid to listen to constructive criticism.”

“I've always loved the poetry in 'Pale Fire.' I think it's wonderful.”

“Poetry is really about your mental state or intellectual, and where you are, and you're trying to evoke that, explain it to yourself, whatever, you're trying to dig into it, analyse yourself.”

“I think poetry was always where I went to deal with my deepest feelings.”

“I've always used poetry to explain myself to myself. These things just sat in my psyche and then came out.”

“I love poetry; it's my primary literary interest, and I suppose the kind of reading you do when you are reading poems - close reading - can carry over into how you read other things.”

“Not everyone may not think the way you do.”

“I think you're wrong.""Think what you like.”

“To think, to think, even with a split second left - to think was the only hope.”

“All of them would understand, as he did now, that he had crossed a line in himself, he had left their world behind, the decent world of tea parties and suburban witticisms.”

“You like me not because I like you. I like you just because I like me.”

“Maybe the truth is I really want to like you instead.”

“If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am.”