“A writer is not so much someone who has something to say as he is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things he would not have thought of if he had not started to say them.”

“Ask MeSome time when the river is ice ask memistakes I have made. Ask me whetherwhat I have done is my life. Othershave come in their slow way intomy thought, and some have tried to helpor to hurt: ask me what differencetheir strongest love or hate has made.I will listen to what you say.You and I can turn and lookat the silent river and wait. We knowthe current is there, hidden; and thereare comings and goings from miles awaythat hold the stillness exactly before us.What the river says, that is what I say.”

“There is no such thing as writer's block for writers whose standards are low enough.”

“A speech is something you say so as to distract attention from what you do not say.”

“I would exchange all that I have written for the next thing.”

“The earth says have a place, be what that placerequires; hear the sound the birds implyand see as deep as ridges go behindeach other.”

“A poem is a serious joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu.”