I cast my heart into my rhymes, That you, in the dim coming times, May know how my heart went with them After the red-rose-bordered hem.

There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met.

There is another world, but it is in this one.

Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.

The Irishman sustains himself during brief periods of joy by the knowledge that tragedy is just around the corner.

Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame!

But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

By logic and reason we die hourly; by imagination we live.

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.

What man does not understand, he fears; and what he fears, he tends to destroy.

One man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

A good work can be communicated across languages ... [provided one does not] fall into the trap of narrow-minded nationalistic or chauvinistic thinking.

It is only the inferior thinker who hastens to explain the singular and the complex by the primitive shortcut of supernaturalism.

Economy is a subject which admits of being treated with levity, but it cannot so be disposed of.

I'm pretty sure Adele and James Blunt were dumped by the same man.

I am a painter with letters. I want to restore everything, mix everything up and say everything.

Love has a hundred gentle ends.

I used to help my dad with a stall selling eggs when I was about 12. People were so hard up they would ask for one egg. But mostly no one came by at all. It was very demoralising.

I feel less pressure to dress youthfully. I'm 50 and everyone knows I'm 50 - who are you kidding? Jeans are my uniform. I have about 15 pairs.

How has podcasting changed things? A lot of people ask me if I feel I should be more famous.

I feel so entirely in my element with a full orchestra; even if my mortal enemies were marshalled before me, I could lead them, master them, surround them, or repulse them.