“No verse which is unmusical or obscure can be regarded as poetry whatever other qualities it may possess.”

“The blueprints of verse can be used to build things made of literal, or nonpoetic material, which is why most verse is not poetry.”

“Free verse may be written as very beautiful prose; prose may be written as very beautiful free verse. Which is which?”

“Very few writers of verse can read their work to keep their listeners aware of the beauty of sense, that sense of beauty from the powerful, delicate ways in which sense is made by poetry.”

“Soviet rocket troops possess enough equipment to be able, if need be, to sweep any aggressor from the face of the earth at whatever point of the globe he may be and whatever military power, territory, or economy he may possess.”

“You can teach the writing of verse.. like prose.. an instrument.. and the recognition of true poetry. The rest, writers must teach them selves.”

“Leadership is that combination of qualities by the possession of which one is able to get something done by others, chiefly because through his influence they become willing to do it.”

“Poetry is properly speaking a transcendental quality, a sudden transformation in which words assume a particular influence.”

“A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits.”

“Any question of philosophy … which is so obscure and uncertain, that human reason can reach no fixed determination with regard to it; if it should be treated at all; seems to lead us naturally into the style of dialogue and conversation.”