“Gradually I became aware that professing English because I loved poems was like practicing vivisection because I loved dogs.”

“I always loved English because whatever human beings are, we are storytellers. It is our stories that give a light to the future. When I went to college I became a history major because history is such a wonderful story of who we think we are. English is much more a story of who we really are.”

“My manners, abominable at times, can be sweet. As I grew older I became a drunk. Why? Because I like ecstasy of the mind. I'm a wretch. But I love, love.”

“I became aware that the invincible power that has moved the world is unrequited, not happy, love.”

“I gradually became aware that my interiority was inseparable from my exteriority, that the geography of my city was the geography of my soul.”

“All I want, is for you to love me. Not because of what I can do or what I look like, or because I love you - just because I am.”