Top 25 Quotes by Mark Strand

It hardly seems worthwhile to point out the shortsightedness of those practitioners who would have us believe that the form of the poem is merely its shape.

For some of us, the less said about the way we do things the better.

Nothing is the destiny of everyone, it is our commonness made dumb.

I tend to like poems that engage me - that is to say, which do not bore me.

Usually a life turned into a poem is misrepresented.

I think the best American poetry is the poetry that utilizes the resources of poetry rather than exploits the defects or triumphs of the poet's personality.

Poetry is something that happens in universities, in creative writing programs or in English departments.

And yet, in a culture like ours, which is given to material comforts, and addicted to forms of entertainment that offer immediate gratification, it is surprising that so much poetry is written.

Each moment is a place you've never been.

But I tend to think of the expressive part of me as rather tedious - never curious or responsive, but blind and self-serving.