"I'd rather write about polar bears than..." - Quote by Mary Oliver

“A poet's interest in craft never fades, of course.”

“Come with me into the woods where spring is advancing, as it does, no matter what, not being singular or particular, but one of the forever gifts, and certainly visible.”

“I want to be braver and more honest about my life. When you're sexually abused, there's a lot of damage.”

“Written things are not for speech; their form is literary; they are stiff, inflexible, and will not lend themselves to happy and effective delivery with the tongue-where their purpose is to merely entertain, not instruct; they have to be limbered up, broken up, colloquialized and turned into common forms of premeditated talk-otherwise they will bore the house and not entertain it.”

“A perfect writer would make words sing, dance, kiss, do the male and female act, bear children, weep, bleed, rage, stab, steal, fire cannon, steer ships, sack cities, charge with cavalry or infantry, or do anything that man or woman or the natural powers can do.”

“All the critics who could not make their reputations by discovering you are hoping to make them by predicting hopefully your approaching impotence, failure and general drying up of natural juices. Not a one will wish you luck or hope that you will keep on writing unless you have political affiliations in which case these will rally around and speak of you and Homer, Balzac, Zola and Link Steffens.”

“Even the minds of animals, such as dogs, lions, cats, and serpents, become charmed with music.”

“Animals have personalities like people and must be studied.”

“It was soon noticed that when ever there was work to be done the cat could never be found.”