Richard Hugo:

Quest for a self is fundamental to poetry.

The Triggering Town, p. 33

Dizzy Gillespie:

You can’t steal a gift. Bird [Charlie Parker] gave the world his music, and if you can hear it you can have it.

Steven Pressfield:

Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.

The War of Art, p. 12

Mary Pipher:

The deeper we dive into our own experience, and the more honest and insightful we are in reporting, the more we connect to all other humans.

Writing to Change the World, p. 206

Richard Hugo:

Then there's that banal, tiresome question: can writing be taught? Yes it can and no it can't. Ultimately the most important things a poet will learn about writing are from himself in the process.

The Triggering Town, p. 33

Mary Karr:

Poetry and prayer alike offer such instantaneous connection -- one person groping from a dark place to meet with another in an instant that strikes fire.

Sinners Welcome, p. 92

Steven Pressfield:

If you believe in God (and I do) you must declare Resistance evil, for it prevents us from achieving the life God intended when He endowed each of us with our own unique genius.

The War of Art, "The Unlived Life"

Abraham Lincoln:

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all.

Jim Jarmusch:

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent.

Mary Pipher:

Personal essays connect the events in our personal lives to greater world events.

Writing to Change the World, p. 206

Richard Hugo:

The young poet is too often paying attention to the big things and can't be bothered with little matters like that. But little matters like that are what make and break poems, and if a teacher can make a poet aware of it, he has given him a generous shove in the only direction. In poetry, the big things tend to take care of themselves.

The Triggering Town, p. 32

Audre Lorde:

Perhaps ... I am the face of one of your fears. Because I am a woman, because I am Black, because I am a lesbian, because I am myself -- a Black woman warrior poet doing my work -- come to ask you, are you doing yours?

"The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action"

Steven Pressfield:

Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be?

The War of Art, "The Unlived Life"

Mary Pipher:

My best advice is to love your audiences. Be present with them. Form a small community in the time you have together. If you love them as neighbors and family members, they will know it, and they will allow you into their hearts. Then you can create moments for them in which transformation is possible.

Writing to Change the World, p. 203

Richard Hugo:

Good poets have obsessive ears.

The Triggering Town, p. 29

Steven Pressfield:

Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.

The War of Art, "The Unlived Life"

William Zinsser:

Writers are the custodians of memory, and that’s what you must become if you want to leave some kind of record of your life…

How to Write a Memoir

Mary Pipher:

Public speaking is a weird mixture of stress, drudgery, and moments of grace.

Writing to Change the World, p. 197