“Don’t give me that Christian forgiveness bullshit, Dukach. I’m a vindictive Jew!” he’d bellow.”

“Poetry is really about your mental state or intellectual, and where you are, and you're trying to evoke that, explain it to yourself, whatever, you're trying to dig into it, analyse yourself.”

“I've always loved the poetry in 'Pale Fire.' I think it's wonderful.”

“Poetry is not mainstream, but then neither is serious fiction, really. But I don't think there's a lot to worry about in this particular 'problem'. Why does art have to be mainstream to be significant?”

“I love poetry; it's my primary literary interest, and I suppose the kind of reading you do when you are reading poems - close reading - can carry over into how you read other things.”

“I think poetry should be read very much like prose, except that the line breaks should be acknowledged somehow.”

“I've always used poetry to explain myself to myself. These things just sat in my psyche and then came out.”

“I think poetry was always where I went to deal with my deepest feelings.”

“Be patient, work hard and consistently, have faith in your writing, and don't be afraid to listen to constructive criticism.”

“It was the artists who finally gave their times and places significance. Paul felt the presence of their ghosts out in the world, just as felt them in his office and in his head. The air was full of them. They were everywhere and always would be.”

“Publishing would be so wonderful without those wretched authors.”