In some ways I'm a reticent man, and for quite a number of years there wasn't very much of my real true deep feelings in my writing.

I'm very gregarious, but I love being in the hills on my own.

However, I learned something. I thought that if the young person, the student, has poetry in him or her, to offer them help is like offering a propeller to a bird.

But I hang on to books. I love them. I even think they're very nice decor in a room - far better than paintings... That's not quite true!

When I go fishing I like to know that there's nobody within five miles of me.

I said I have no powers of invention. Well, I also have no powers of mimicry.

I used to fish the Border rivers, but nowadays you have to queue up for a shot and I can't stand that.

When I was asked to be Writer in Residence at Edinburgh I thought, you can't teach poetry. This is ridiculous.

And the second question, can poetry be taught? I didn't think so.

There are some friends you don't meet for twenty years and when you meet them again it's as if no twenty years has happened - you're lucky when that happens. I feel the same about books.

It's like breathing in and out to me. It's like having a conversation with someone who isn't there. Because it has to be addressed to somebody - not a particular person, or very rarely.

Somebody knows.

You are an unfinished work in progress. One of the good things about life's challenges: you get to find out that you're capable of being far more than you ever thought possible.

Washington is a city of people doing badly what shouldn't be done at all.

Weak people never admit that they are responsible for their own state. They always blame either circumstances or others.

I wanna bite the hand that feeds me. I wanna bite that hand so badly. I want to make them wish they'd never seen me.

I like my shadow; it reminds me that I exist.

Why sleep when there are books to read.

A tree root won't get into your sewer line unless there's something already wrong with your sewer line. I know most people don't want to hear that, but it's true

Spiritual hunger and spiritual thirst But you got to change it On the inside first To be satisfied

I like carrots that have got a bit of personality and have three or four legs! They may look weird but they taste fantastic.