“ Love is the word used to label the sexual excitement of the young, the habituation of the middle-aged, and the mutual dependence of the old. John Ciardi
“ Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves they have a better idea. John Ciardi
“ Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal, with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope. John Ciardi
“ (Conviction) is possible only in a world more primitive than ours can be perceived to be. A man can achieve a simply gnomic conviction only by ignoring the radical describers of his environment or by… John Ciardi
“ A savage is simply a human organism that has not received enough news from the human race. John Ciardi
“ Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea. John Ciardi
“ Tell me how much a nation knows about its own language, and I will tell you how much that nation knows about its own identity. John Ciardi
“ Boys are the cash of war. Whoever said: we're not free spenders- doesn't know our like. John Ciardi
“ What has any poet to trust more than the feel of the thing? Theory concerns him only until he picks up his pen, and it begins to concern him again as soon as he lays it down. John Ciardi
“ It is easy enough to praise men for the courage of their convictions. I wish I could teach the sad young of this mealy generation the courage of their confusions. John Ciardi
“ A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea. John Ciardi
“ If a man means his writing seriously he must mean to write well. But how can he write well until he learns to see what he has written badly. His progress toward good writing and his recognition of ba… John Ciardi
