"I wrote those poems for myself, as a way of being a soldier here in this country. I didn't know the poems would travel. I didn't go to Lebanon until two years ago, but people told me that many Arabs had memorized these poems and translated them into Arabic."

"There are two ways to worry words. One is hoping for the greatest possible beauty in what is created. The other is to tell the truth."

"Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth."

"In the process of telling the truth about what you feel or what you see, each of us has to get in touch with himself or herself in a really deep, serious way."

"I've been told the weirdest things: 'Yeah, I love taking a bath to your music!' or 'I gave birth to my daughter while listening to your music.'"

"Any long work in which poetry is persistent, be it epic or drama or narrative, is really a succession of separate poetic experiences governed into a related whole by an energy distinct from that which evoked them."

"When I'm writing, I'm constantly thinking about myself, because it's the only experience I have to draw on. And I don't see an exact reflection of myself in every face in the audience, but I know that my songs have validity to them, and that's why the fans are there."

"I could play it safe by recording songs that are familiar, but am I expanding myself as an artist by doing covers? It's a catch-22. It's called show business: The word 'business' is in it, and you've got to be a businessman. But then again, you have to be true to yourself as an artist."