“My child, you have a flawed grasp of the nature of myth-making. I am a poet and storyteller, a creator of ballads and sagas. Pray do not confuse the exercise of the imagination with mere mendacity. I am a master of the mysteries of words, their meanings and music and mellifluous magic.”

“You are my creator, but I am your master; Obey!”

“Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master;--obey!”

“I earn the magic of words by writing.I learn the myth of worlds by imagining.”

“If you are the lantern, I am the flame;If you are the lake, then I am the rain;If you are the desert, I am the sea;If you are the blossom, I am the bee;If you are the fruit, then I am the core;If you are the rock, then I am the ore;If you are the ballad, I am the word;If you are the sheath, then I am the sword.”

“I have had much experience with the unclean and uncivilized in the recent past. Shall I tell you what I discovered? I am not the state of my feet. I am not the dirt on my hands or the hygiene of my private parts. If I were these things, I would not have been at liberty to pray at any time since my arrest. But I did pray, because I am not these things. In the end, I am not even myself. I am a string of bones speaking the word God.”