To banish cares, scare away sorrow and soothe pain is the business of the poet and singer.

To banish cares, scare away sorrow and soothe pain is the business of the poet and singer.

I've been in a lot of trouble and come out of it. I think it shows a lot of good read more

I've been in a lot of trouble and come out of it. I think it shows a lot of good character.

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.

There is no more mistaken path to happiness than worldliness, revelry, high life.

There is no more mistaken path to happiness than worldliness, revelry, high life.

I've never thought of my characters as being sad. On the contrary, they are full of life. They didn't choose read more

I've never thought of my characters as being sad. On the contrary, they are full of life. They didn't choose tragedy. Tragedy chose them.

I quickly laugh at everything for fear of having to cry.

I quickly laugh at everything for fear of having to cry.

Unexplained joy is always so keen that... it seems to hold enough to reconcile one to the inevitable.

Unexplained joy is always so keen that... it seems to hold enough to reconcile one to the inevitable.

Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down read more

Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

I do not want a plain box, I want a sarcophagus
With tigery stripes, and a face on it
Round read more

I do not want a plain box, I want a sarcophagus
With tigery stripes, and a face on it
Round as the moon, to stare up.
I want to be looking at them when they come
Picking among the dumb minerals, the roots.
I see them already-the pale, star-distance faces.
Now they are nothing, they are not even babies.
I imagine them without fathers or mothers, like the first gods.
They will wonder if I was important.