humility
While I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together, I’m far more mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly what Lincoln meant when he said, “I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.”
DNC’s speech, Charlotte, North Carolina, September 6, 2012.
How can I put it? It’s like winning the Pulitzer. If you take it too seriously, you’re an idiot. But if you look at the names of the other poets who have won it, most of them are damn good. Not all of them—I’m not going to name names—but most. My editor was thrilled, and my wife jumped for joy. She hasn’t done that in a while.
“Voice of the Workingman to Be Poet Laureate,” by Charles McGrath, The New York Times, August 9, 2011.