I just didn't want to shoot other people.

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.

You need to discover how to invest your life

God never consults your past to make your future.

There is a gentle thought that often springs to life in me, because it speaks of you.

You don't force change; you just open yourself to its possibilities and let it work through you.

I'm a civic busybody and I've been blessed with an active career.

I've always been a religious person, and I try to think that every disappointment might just be a blessing in disguise.

If you really want to turn your health around, start juicing today.

Seventeen's not a good age. That's when you realize that you have a heart. That's when feelings get in the way of thinking.

All the arts we practice are apprenticeship. The big art is our life.

In times of distress strengthen your heart.