"A writer’s life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity. We don’t have to weep about that. The writer makes his choice and is stuck with it."

"A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it from going to sleep."

"I've always believed that the only way to be truly original is to steal from everyone."

"The only way to defeat the forces of unreason is with the weapons of reason."

"The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it."