John Ciardi said this quote

“ 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 bad writing are bound to unfold at something like the same rate. ”

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And the time sundials tellMay be minutes and hours. But it may just as wellBe seconds and sparkles, or seasons and flowers.No, I don't think of time as just minutes and hours.Time can be heartbeats, or bird songs, or miles,Or waves on a beach, or ants in their files(They do move like seconds—just watch their feet go:Tick-tick-tick, like a clock). You'll learn as you growThat whatever there is in a garden, the sunCounts up on its dial. By the time it is doneOur sundial—or someone's— will certainly addAll the good things there are. Yes, and all of the bad.And if anyone's here for the finish, the sunWill have told him—by sundial—how well we have done.How well we have done, or how badly. Alas,That is a long thought. Let me hope we all pass.

~ 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

I have one head that wants to be good,And one that wants to be bad.And always, as soon as I get up,One of my heads is sad.

~ John Ciardi