“Hello sheriff, give me another nose”

“I have put my arm down forever to interrupt the men who want more hair."from the poem "Pasadena" collected in Own Face (1978)”

“Send the pick to a lop state. Whale ace. Sneezers.”

“I have found it advisable not to give too much heed to what people say when I am trying to accomplish something of consequence. Invariably they proclaim it can't be done. I deem that the very best time to make the effort.”

“I have noticed that nothing I have never said ever did me any harm.”

“They criticize me for harping on the obvious; if all the folks in the United States would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, most of our big problems would take care of themselves.”

“It would be unfair to say that I prefer the back of a book to its contents, but it is true that the sight of a lot of books gives me the hope that I may some day read them, which sometimes develops into the belief that I have read them.”