“When you are absolutely, positively sure you know all there is to know about anything, you're as far from the truth as you will ever be...”

“But the inside stuff Isn't in these poems About how to be a REAL HUMAN BEING Because no one can tell you that Except you. Because the you of you Is inside you someplace Probably in the middle of your heart. You can feel it there. And the you in you ALWAYS knows when you're being a REAL HUMAN BEING You know what I mean. And don't let anyone tell you different.”

“I’m not one to talk about my feelings. It’s too scary. It makes you vulnerable, because if someone knows that you love them, they can hurt you. I couldn’t take any more hurt. I just couldn’t.”

“It isn't true that you live only once. You only die once. You live lots of times, if you know how.”

“No wonder such a big part of growing old is learning to lower one's expectations, only we call that maturity and wisdom so as not to sound too defeatist. When you are young you demand ecstasy; when you are old you settle for anything short of agony.”

“Sometime on a bright blue day When everything is very clear And there are no wrinkles in the sky It's good to go to a quiet place And lie down on your back and look at the world Or put your face deep in the grass And your arms around the ground And remember how it was when you were little And remember you're still the same you Only you got bigger on the outside is all that happened.”

“If you ain't first, you're last”