Earliest Quote by Philip Levine

My own journey in becoming a poet began with memory - with the need to record and hold on to what was being lost.…

— Natasha Trethewey

I don't create poetry, I create myself, for me my poems are a way to me.

— Edith Södergran

Writing poems is my way of celebrating with the world that I have not committed suicide the evening before.

— Alice Walker

It may be said that poems are in one way like icebergs: only about a third of their bulk appears above the surface of…

— Howard Nemerov

“My earliest poems appear almost skeletal to me now - it seems I've learned to add meat, muscle and a nice suit of clothes.”

— Wanda Lea Brayton

My earliest poems sing of the absolute necessity of allowing love to invade and pervade one's life. That can make the miracle happen in…

— James Broughton

[Having monologue] are talking to somebody even if it's just to yourself, convince yourself if that's what you're trying to do.

— Denzel Washington

Every human being is in need of talking to somebody. In this country nobody has time. It seems that talking to a friend has…

— Marlene Dietrich

Diplomacy is not merely talking somebody into something; it's talking to somebody from a position of strength. You put your power on the table…

— Daniel Fried

That's another way of writing a song, of course. Just talking to somebody that ain't there. That's the best way. That's the truest way.…

— Bob Dylan

Poems in a way are spells against death. They are milestones, to see where you were then from where you are now.

— Richard Eberhart

For a poet, making poems is a way of viewing the world, being in the world, breathing.

— Robin Morgan