I only keep books that I like very much. Otherwise I'd throw them out.

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.

Do couples in arranged marriage actually fall in love

Making a decision based on fear is like painting a self-portrait of someone else.

The mind will always take on an order conforming to that upon which it concentrates.

When sinners accuse people, evil just did her job, accusing.

I was the only person I'd ever met who had a record contract. None of the E Street Band, as far as I know, had been on an airplane until Columbia sent us to Los Angeles.

Some philosophical arguments (e.g., in connection with the mind/body problem) look pretty good, while others (e.g., those that criticize moral realism) do not.

The performances make you want to get back out there and try something new and challenge yourself.

I actually enjoy the pain. That's what gives me the fire inside to get up and keep going.

A father is someone who carries pictures where his money used to be

Gifts are as gold that adorns the temple; grace is like the temple that sanctifies the gold.