“I admire anybody who has the guts to write anything at all.”

“I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and i can write faster than anybody who can write better.”

“What has praise and fame to do with poetry? Was not writing poetry a secret transaction, a voice answering a voice? So that all this chatter and praise, and blame and meeting people who admired one and meeting people who did not admire one was as ill suited as could be to the thing itself- a voice answering a voice. ”

“I don't think anybody can teach anybody anything. I think that you learn it, but the young writer that is as I say demon-driven and wants to learn and has got to write, he don't know why, he will learn from almost any source that he finds. He will learn from older people who are not writers, he will learn from writers, but he learns it -- you can't teach it.”

“When I think of all the harm [the Bible] has done, I despair of ever writing anything to equal it.”

“All people are insane. They will do anything at any time, and God help anybody who looks for reasons.”