"Fear, guilt, despair, and moon-struck frenzy rush On voluntary death: the wise and brave, When the fierce storms of fortune round 'em roar, Combat the billows with redoubled force: Then, if they perish ere the port is gained, They sink with decent pride; and from the deep Honour retrieves them, bright as rising stars."

"No man living better deserves the character of an honest and ingenious man; no one I would sooner depend upon for all the parts of a good writer and good friend—free from the vanities and weaknesses of both; whose honour and trust, I dare say, are as sacred as his writings are blameless in morality, and whose life and conduct are as correct as they."

"O blissful poverty! Nature, too partial! to thy lot assigns Health, freedom, innocence, and downy peace, Her real goods: and only mocks the great With empty pageantries!"

"A poet, blest beyond the poet's fate, Whom Heaven kept sacred from the Proud and Great: Foe to loud praise, and friend to learned ease, Content with science in the vale of peace. Calmly he looked on either life, and here Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear; From Nature's temperate feast rose satisfied, Thanked Heaven that he lived, and that he died."

"Beware of flattery! 'tis a flowery weed, Which oft offends the very idol-vice, Whose shrine it would perfume."

"Wedded love is founded on esteem."

"A while she stood Transformed by grief to marble, and appeared Her own pale monument; but when she breathed The secret anguish of her wounded soul, So moving were the plaints! they would have soothed The stooping falcon to suspend his flight, And spare his morning prey."

"What truly remains of me Is that very thing- my absence."

"I am a polyartist."

"I never feel quite complete unless I'm doing all the arts-visual,musical,literary."

"All form is a process of notation."

"If you haven't done it twice, you haven't done it."

"I guess that's why I developed the form 'intermedia'.You are always focussing on all kinds of media to express yourself."

"Concrete poetry is a fusion of visual art and poetry."

"Happenings are a fusion of visual art , music and theatre."

"Sound poetry is a fusion of music and literature."

"There are many thousands of poems about Death in the abstract. Philosophy about Death is a typical way of rendering it less real as an experience."

"A minor essay, but an unduly neglected document of Clare's predicament in 1824, a crucial year in his life as a poet."

"The essay was impelled by Clare's anxiety that his poems were slipping out of fashion."

"Clare's essay was itself an attempt at popularity through essayistic journalism."

"Hunger is no respecter of disaster."

"My dear friend, the world is really one vast marketplace. No one cares where a man is from as long as he has gold in his pocket, or something you want. And the remarkable thing is this: the wars have only encouraged demand, trade has actually boomed in these difficult years. The ships are full, everyone is happy. War and politics are irrelevant, unless the great flow of trade is disturbed."

"‘I don’t think he’d ever have made a strong king. He was weak as water. Can you imagine him smiting the enemy? Destroying them in battle? Having the guts to execute the opposition?’ ‘Perhaps it’s time we had a king who didn’t do that. Perhaps it’s time we had a king who had other values on his mind,’ I said, playing nervously with my dagger to calm the growing anxiety inside me. ‘Like what?’ ‘Reform of corruption. Civil order to prevent the abuses of power. Justice.’"

"Can love communicate over great distance? I could only hope so."

"Éala Éarendel engla beorhtast ofer middangeard monnum sended."

"‘These ambassadors are all the same. They have the eyes of Anubis. And they make me feel like a servant. Like a shabti in a tomb. “Here I am. I will do it!”’"

"'Come on, Rahotep. How do you think Royal Envoy Nakht gets his information about events in the north, and in the war? The army has its intelligence, and the palace has its own, too. The days when an invasion or an attack took place and no one heard about it for months are long gone. This war’s all about speed and information, and you can be sure Nakht has a very efficient system. The problem is, each system is always trying to infiltrate the other. And there’s always the danger of spies.’"

"Bliss within the burghs, when I burst forth with a cadenced song"

"We need strong, educated women to help us build a better world."

"Conflict defines nations. Enemies justify armies. Wars glorify generals. Without his great enemy to give him purpose and meaning, he will be significantly diminished. He will have to come to terms with us."

"A little distance had opened between us, almost unnoticed, rarely acknowledged. We made love infrequently. The couch was for sleep at the end of exhausting days. I confided in her less often. Perhaps that is the fate of all marriages."

"My old friend. I know you see the reality of the streets, and the miseries of the people, and that is a valuable perspective. But remember the world of the wealthy, the priests and the nobles also suffers from dangerous tribulations. The two are not mutually exclusive."

"I dislike talk of the Gods, who taunt us with their promises, and whose disappointments we must always accept."

"Maybe I’ve finally learned the bitter truth that I can’t beat them, even if I’ll never join them. But I’m not going to lose the one thing I can still call my own: my life. And you should wise up and do the same, especially with a new child on the way."

"‘I suspect you are intent upon some sort of revenge, in response to this dreadful tragedy?’ ‘And?’ I said. ‘Let me counsel you. In moments such as this, we are inclined to allow the animal aspect of our natures to take control. It is a mistake. ... Because revenge can destroy a man as surely as the plague. It seems like a god, so pure and true, and full of its sense of justice and entitlement. But it is truly a monster. It feeds perpetually upon its own pain, and upon any pain it can find. And it can never be satisfied until everything has been destroyed utterly.’"

"There is truth in what you say. Truth is a dangerous muse. One dies for the truth."

"‘There is no such thing as a cheerful poem [...] Happiness writes in water, not ink.’"

"‘I see I have shocked you all a little. But to be a poet is to accept the responsibility of speaking the truth! No matter what the cost to my personal safety [...] in matters of men and this world. I’m a poet, not a complete fool…’"

"The truth is always the truth."

"It would be another day ruled by this world’s new gods: gold and power."

"In these dark times people prefer to look away from everything they would rather not see."

"Do intellect and morality count for nothing in the way the future unfolds? [...] Greed is our king, and corruption is his servant."

"Cruelty, rage, grief — and something others carelessly name evil — can reduce the strange collation of profanity and beauty which makes up each of us to an inanimate lump of decaying meat."

"Death makes us strangers to ourselves ... Do not indulge yourself in a self-pitying, self-gratifying revenge. More than likely you would simply end up dead as well."

"Fear is a powerful enemy, but a useful friend."

"Order is the priority of power."

"Once wine was the means to artificial happiness; now things are much more sophisticated, and what was one of the great secrets of medicine has become the only bliss many find in this life."

"And you must never speak of what I have just told you. For this is a great secret. And great secrets bring with them great responsibilities."

"Even words are not perhaps safe in these times."