“A sentence is like a tune. A memorable sentence gives its emotion a melodic shape. You want to hear it again, say itin a way, to hum it to yourself. You desire, if only in the sound studio of your ...”

“From an essay on early reading by Robert Pinsky:My favorite reading for many years was the "Alice" books. The sentences had the same somber, drugged conviction as Sir John Tenniel's illustrations, ...”

“This is one of the great human mysteries: why do works of art about bad things such as loss and deprivation make us feel good?”

“I delight sometimes in saying to - as when I'm a teacher, I love saying, 'This is really important, so don't write it down.' To me, what you retain is a very important filter.”

“I think art is not an ornament or refinement at the fringes of human intelligence, I think it's at the center. It's at the core.”

“The last thing a young artist should do in poetry or any other field is think about what's in style, what's current, what are the trends. Think instead of what you like to read, what do you admire,...”