"Prizes aren't essential. What is essential is poetry itself, it's what is said, it is clarity, it's loyalty, those are the essential values, the literary values."

“First create jobs, and then provide skills to people.”

“We sing a little song before we eat, a little blessing before we eat, and it's really - we're thanking the Lord and the Earth for the food that we eat, and it really brings you together in a profound kind of way.”

“Maybe that was the secret of happiness--not expecting any one thing to last forever.”

“Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's dictatorial ways have hurt Iran's image across the globe and could be a prelude to dictatorship.”

Source : "Ahmadinejad accused of tainting Iran's image in TV debate" by Shirzad Bozorgmehr, www.cnn.com. June 4, 2009.

“The purpose of The Motherhood Manifesto is: mothers really need to be given the ability to parent.”

“The clerical work is par for the course. "Keep on file in numerical order" means throw in wastebasket. You'll soon learn the language. "Let it be a challenge to you" means you're stuck with it; "interpersonal relationships" is a fight between kids; "ancillary civic agencies for supportive discipline" means call the cops; "Language Arts Dept." is the English office; "literature based on child's reading level and experiential background" means that's all they've got in the Book Room; "non-academic-minded" is a delinquent; and "It has come to my attention" means you're in trouble.”

“What I'm trying to do now in my life - not just with the building, but with everything - is to construct things that will have enduring qualities, and won't just be ephemeral flashes in the pan.”

“...I am writing these poems from inside a lion...”