"You should always be trying to write a poem you are unable to write, a poem you lack the technique, the language, the courage to achieve. Otherwise you're merely imitating yourself, going nowhere, because that's always easiest."
— John Berryman

"I am so wise I had my mouth sewn shut."
— John Berryman

"Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so.
After all, the sky flashes, the great sea yearns,
we ourselves flash and yearn"
— John Berryman (The Dream Songs)

"Them lady poets must not marry, pal."
— John Berryman (The Dream Songs)

"“We have reason to be afraid. This is a terrible place.”"
— John Berryman

"I cry. Evil dissolves, and love, like foam;
that love. Prattle of children powers me home,
my heart claps like the swan’s
under a frenzy of who love me and who shine."
— John Berryman

"Them lady poets must not marry, pal . . . It is a true error to marry with poets / or to be by them."
— John Berryman (The Dream Songs)

"“The artist is extremely lucky who is presented with the worst possible ordeal which will not actually kill him. At that point, he's in business.”"
— John Berryman

"The splendour & the lose grew all the same, Sire."
— John Berryman (The Dream Songs)