Quotes from Ron Padgett

It seems more than likely that the translating of poetry is going to rub off on the translator if he or she is a poet.

Take care of things close to home first. Straighten up your room before you save the world. Then save the world.

99 percent of every beautiful thing you ever knew escaped and went back out into the world where you vaguely remembered it.

her lower lip was like an orange mint. and i was a crying little boy in the candy store.

Contempla que todo es posible. Si de pronto te da miedo nadar muy lejos océano adentro, da la vuelta y regresa al barco. Respira. Recuerda que la belleza existe y que la verdad no existe. Nota que la idea de verdad es tan poderosa como la de belleza

Not everyone is at the top of his or her game all the time - you can't be.

So writing about love or having it infuse the poems that I'm writing has never been something I've set myself to do, except when I write a poem for my wife, for an occasion, such as our anniversary.

Maybe lurking in my unconscious was the idea that when someone's collected poems are published it means that the poet is dead. I found myself looking at my work as if I were at my own funeral.