My soul, how will I recognize you if we meet?

Each word bears its weight, so you have to read my poems quite slowly.

Blackbirds are the cellos of the deep farms.

The sea is as near as we come to another world.

A poem might be defined as thinking about feelings - about human feelings and frailties.

I married a young Englishman in Cambridge in 1955 and have lived in Britain every since.

There's no friend like someone who has known you since you were five.

There is far too much literary criticism of the wrong kind. That is why I never could have survived as an academic.

Poets should ignore most criticism and get on with making poetry.

Yes, I do often write poems from the mind, but I hope I don't ignore feelings and emotions.

I like rhyme because it is memorable, I like form because having to work to a pattern gives me original ideas.

He clearly suffers from some past traumas too, so hopefully he'll understand why I was untruthful to him about mine.

Manage your time and life.

Fortunately, historians are now beginning to recognise the historic role of Islam as a liberating force for peoples oppressed by the burdens of unjust social systems.

I really believe one of the jobs of a writer is to stretch as far as you can into other voices.

Change is not about putting a different kind of people in power but a different kind of power in people.

A person gets from a symbol the meaning he puts into it, and what is one man's comfort and inspiration is another's jest and scorn.

The boundaries of your life are merely a creation of the self.

When I worked with Robin Williams, now there is improv! He is just as funny as you think he is. We did at least five or six takes of every scene, improvising every scene differently. He was a riot.

I feel empty, not because of sadness, but because of relief, all the tension flowing out of me.

Head gear, plus acne equals...table for one in the cafeteria.