“Eating grapes with a knife and fork is not what one would call refined. It is what one would call ludicrous.”

“If one knew, he wondered, the facts,would one have to pity even the planets? If one reached what they called the heart of the matter?”

“If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?”

“She was not quite what you would call refined.She was not quite what you would call unrefined.She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot.”

“What would a racist call werewolves? Wargs? She kind of liked that one, but suspected that racist bastards didn't read Tolkien.”

“Still, no one finally knows what a poet is supposed either to be or to do. Especially in this country, one takes on the job—because all that one does in America is considered a "job"—with no clear sense as to what is required or where one will ultimately be led. In that respect, it is as particular an instance of a "calling" as one might point to. For years I've kept in mind, "Many are called but few are chosen." Even so "called," there were no assurances that one would be answered.”