"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?'"

"I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

"I am not a liberal. I am a radical. I am as radical as anything you ever saw."

"Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire."