"The only way out is through."

"The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in a clarification of life—not necessarily a great clarification, such as Lowell or Emerson or Wordsworth might have given, but a momentary stay …"

"I never ask of a pupil who has written a poem, 'What does it mean?' I always ask, 'How did you arrive at that?'"

"One had to be an undergraduate to understand anything at all."

"The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."