Approval of what is approved of Is as false as a well-kept vow.

Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.

Too many people in the modern world view poetry as a luxury, not a necessity like petrol. But to me it's the oil of life.

It's strange that those we miss the most Are those we take for granted.

Now if the harvest is over, And the world cold, Give me the bonus of laughter, As I lose hold.

History must not be written with bias, and both sides must be given, even if there is only one side.

People's backyards are much more interesting than their front gardens, and houses that back on to railways are public benefactors.

I ought to warn you that my verse is of no interest to people who can think.

And I think it was the outline of that church tower at Belaugh against the sky which gave me a passion for churches so that every church I've past since I've wanted to stop and look in.

And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait Because I have a luncheon date.

Topography is one of my chief themes in my poetry, about the country, the suburbs and the seaside. Then there comes love... and increasingly; the fear of death.

He wondered if there was anyone in the world who liked him. Liked him for himself alone.

I don't want to have to give up me, in order to be his.

It’s a good thing that the sheep are all so law abiding

But I am a writer, and I deal in words, and I need to have them spelled out for me--precisely.

Negotiation in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties more anxious to agree than to disagree.

Live one day at a time, unless you can figure out how to live two.

They’re nothing more than domestic terrorists.

I would be very happy to go to America. America is where I was raised and that's exactly what I want.

I genuinely don't feel that anything that's been written or said about me has overshadowed my music, and that's the most important thing as far as I'm concerned.

Great God! I'd rather be a Pagan.