“To be a poet is a condition, not a profession.”

The test is always how we treat the poor.

All the fun is in how you say a thing.

There never was any heart truly great and generous, that was not also tender and compassionate.

The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader.

The artist in me cries out for design.

A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.

Never cut what you can untie.

Forgive me my nonsense as I also forgive the nonsense of those who think they talk sense.

Something we were withholding made us weak, until we found it was ourselves.

Always fall in with what you’re asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever’s going. Not against: with.

The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.

Life must be kept up at a great rate in order to absorb any considerable amount of learning.

The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.

In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.

I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.

Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.