In all the poems I've written I've not really engaged in politics, and when I've found myself moving in that direction I've always stopped myself.

The ordinary can be absolutely miraculous.

You’re beautiful because when you were born, undiscovered planets lined up to peep over the rim of your cradle and lay gifts of gravity and light at your miniature feet

If you were going to choose a way of making your way in this world and a place to start from, you might not choose poetry and you might not choose Huddersfield.

We still need a voice that thinks before it speaks.

People who read poetry, for example, like the feel, the heft and the smell of a book.

And wonder, dread and war have lingered in that land where loss and love in turn have held the upper hand.

The Huddersfield that I like best is a large town with a big heart and an open mind.

I wondered if people might not have had enough of Simon Armitage and wondered whether I hadn't had enough of Simon Armitage.

This misfortune you find is of your own manufacture.

This misfortune you find is of your own manufacture. Keep hold of what you have, it will harm no other, for hatred comes home to the hand that chose it.

Men who have nothing to lose never give a thought for eternal life.

You could rattle the stars, ' she whispered. 'You could do anything, if only you dared.

Personal Responsibility is the state of being the person who caused something to happen.

You don't need strength to let go of something. What you really need is understanding.

I don't know any girls who appreciate getting a close-up snap of a guy's privates out of nowhere.

Dying is such a waste of good health.

I moved to Manchester to join a band and ended up getting into acting, and I moved back to London to become an actor and ended up joining a band.

I was eleven and I wanted to play it because it was in my blood. It was a feeling I couldn't deny

If folly disappeared, wit would starve.

My only aim is the welfare of the poor of my country and the poor of states like Uttar Pradesh.