I recently finished reading The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, & Issa
edited by former Poet Laureate Robert Hass. Here are some highlights from what Basho had to say about poetry that I appreciated.

Don’t follow in the footsteps of the old poets, seek what they sought.

Learn about pines from the pine, and about bamboo from the bamboo.

The secret of poetry lies in treading the middle path between the reality and the vacuity of the world.

Is there good in saying everything?

To his last point-question, doubtful.