Allen Ginsberg

“To be a poet is a condition, not a profession.”

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.”

“The weight of the world is love. Under the burden of solitude, under the burden of dissatisfaction, the weight, the weight we carry is love.”

“Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.”

“We're in science fiction now, man. Whoever is controlling the screen controls the culture, controls the computer, controls the mind.”

“Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.”

“The only thing that can save the world is the reclaiming of the awareness of the world. That's what poetry does.”

“To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.”

“First thought, best thought.”

“Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction.”

“My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.”

“You can't be a poet and not know the jeopardy of life.”

“I don't think there is any such thing as an ordinary mortal. Everybody has his own private world.”

“It is the quality of attention that makes things beautiful.”

“You are a genius all the time.”

“Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness.”