“Poets can dodge. ("Evening Primrose")”

“I nipped into this sanctuary late this afternoon and soon heard the dying footfalls of closing time. From now on, my only effort will be to dodge the night watchman. Poets can dodge.”

“I sometimes marvel that a third-rate writer like me has been able to palm himself off as a second-rate writer.”

“Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself.”

“There is nothing on earth that you cannot have once you have mentally accepted the fact that you can have it.”

“You can do anything you wish to do, have anything you wish tohave, be anything you wish to be.”

“And so a miserable but possible scenario is that countries in the bottom billion oscillate between the traps and limbo, perhaps switching in the process from one trap to another..Let me be clear: we cannot rescue them. The societies of the bottom billion can only be rescued from within. In every society of the bottom billion there are people working for change, but usually they are defeated by the powerful internal forces stacked against them. We should be helping the heroes. So far, our efforts have been paltry: through inertia, ignorance, and incompetence, we have stood by and watched them lose.Let me be clear: we cannot rescue them. These societies of the bottom billion can only be rescued from within.”