"There is the view that poetry should improve your life. I think people confuse it with the Salvation Army." — John Ashbery, American poet, born 1927
"I like poems you can tack all over with a hammer and there are no hollow places." — John Ashbery, American poet, born 1927
"How many people came and stayed a certain time, uttered light or dark speech that became part of you, like light behind windblown fog and sand filtered and influenced by it, until no part remains that is surely you." — John Ashbery, American poet, born 1927
"From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life." — Arthur Ashe, American tennis player, born 1943
"True heroism is not to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost." — Arthur Ashe, American tennis player, born 1943
"If wars are started by lies, they can be stopped by truths." — Julian Assange, Australian activist, born 1971
"We should seek not so much to pray but to become prayer." — Saint Francis of Assisi, Italian Catholic friar, born 1181
"No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves." — Saint Francis of Assisi, Italian Catholic friar, born 1181
"What do you have to fear? Nothing. Whom do you have to fear? No one. Why? Because whoever has joined forces with God obtains three great privileges: omnipotence without power, intoxication without wine, and life without death." — Saint Francis of Assisi, Italian Catholic friar, born 1181
"Our hands imbibe like roots, so i place them on what is beautiful in this world. And I fold them in prayer, and they draw from the heavens light." — Saint Francis of Assisi, Italian Catholic friar, born 1181
"Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received - only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage." — Saint Francis of Assisi, Italian Catholic friar, born 1181
"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." — Saint Francis of Assisi, Italian Catholic friar, born 1181
"Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words." — Saint Francis of Assisi, Italian Catholic friar, born 1181