"To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go."
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
"Poetry is a life-cherishing force."
"I know many lives worth living."
"Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift."
"When it's over, I want to say: all my lifeI was a bride married to amazement.I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it is over, I don't want to wonderif I have made of my life something particular, and real.I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,or full of argument. I don't want to end up simply having visited this world."