"If I've done my work well, I..." - Quote by Mary Oliver

“Everybody has to have their little tooth of power. Everybody wants to be able to bite.”

“I held my breath as we do sometimes to stop time when something wonderful has touched us.”

“I saw that worrying had come to nothing and gave it up. And took my old body and went out into the morning, and sang.”

“There's something not normal about you if you're writing a book about yourself, or about anything. And if you're the kind of person who can deal with being recognized by strangers and if that's tolerable or pleasing to you, and not immediately terrifying, that's not normal either.”

“My characters talk to one another, and when it reaches a certain pitch of excitement I jump out of bed and run and trap them before they are gone.”

“People ask me why I write. I write to find out what I know.”

“You know we poor artists have to show ourselves in society from time to time, just to remind the public that we are not savages.”

“When I am writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we're capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness. I'm trying for that. But I'm also trying for the language. I'm trying to see how it can really sound.”

“Idea and experience will never coincide in the center; only through art and action are they united.”