People who read poetry, for example, like the feel, the heft and the smell of a book.

The ordinary can be absolutely miraculous.

You’re beautiful because when you were born, undiscovered planets lined up to peep over the rim of your cradle and lay gifts of gravity and light at your miniature feet

If you were going to choose a way of making your way in this world and a place to start from, you might not choose poetry and you might not choose Huddersfield.

We still need a voice that thinks before it speaks.

In all the poems I've written I've not really engaged in politics, and when I've found myself moving in that direction I've always stopped myself.

And wonder, dread and war have lingered in that land where loss and love in turn have held the upper hand.

The Huddersfield that I like best is a large town with a big heart and an open mind.

I wondered if people might not have had enough of Simon Armitage and wondered whether I hadn't had enough of Simon Armitage.

This misfortune you find is of your own manufacture.

This misfortune you find is of your own manufacture. Keep hold of what you have, it will harm no other, for hatred comes home to the hand that chose it.

I think in order to move forward into the future, you need to know where you've been.

The beast for me is greed. Whether you read Dante, Swift, or any of these guys, it always boils down to the same thing: the corruption of the soul.

It grossed something like 12 million dollars and started a cycle of so-called boy-meets-ghoul horror films.

None of us are what we once were.

In the end, though, I did not kill my sister. She did it all on her own. Or at least this is what I tell myself.

A country cannot make progress while leaving half of its population behind.

When you quickly get into motion, a problem becomes an opportunity for growth.

There are moments in which a rose is more important than a piece of bread

No one is so good that they don’t need the grace of the gospel, nor so bad that they can’t receive the grace of the gospel.