“With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.”
“With me poetry has been not a purpose, but a passion; and the passions should be held in reverence: they must not — they cannot at will be excited, with an eye to the paltry compensations, or the more paltry commendations, of mankind.”
“I think the person who takes a job in order to live - that is to say, for the money [not for purpose or passion]- has turned himself into a slave.”
“Poetry has isolated me from the world more than it has connected me to it.”
“If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.”
“I have defined poetry as a 'passionate pursuit of the Real.”