Too many people in the modern world view poetry as a luxury, not a necessity like petrol. But to me it's the oil of life.

Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.

It's strange that those we miss the most Are those we take for granted.

Now if the harvest is over, And the world cold, Give me the bonus of laughter, As I lose hold.

History must not be written with bias, and both sides must be given, even if there is only one side.

People's backyards are much more interesting than their front gardens, and houses that back on to railways are public benefactors.

I ought to warn you that my verse is of no interest to people who can think.

And I think it was the outline of that church tower at Belaugh against the sky which gave me a passion for churches so that every church I've past since I've wanted to stop and look in.

And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait Because I have a luncheon date.

Topography is one of my chief themes in my poetry, about the country, the suburbs and the seaside. Then there comes love... and increasingly; the fear of death.

Hymns are the poetry of the people.

The perception of a child who has not yet learned to protect itself by developing the tunnel vision that keeps out ninety percent of the universe.

Real life applications get tricky when we think about them.

I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere appendix.

Think, talk, and walk like you matter.

The interior life is often stupid.

A time will come when men will sit with history before them or with some old newspaper before them and ask incredulously,"Was there ever such a world?"

My mom always told me that if you work hard, you can achieve anything. And it's true. It's one of the truest things ever.

For God loves saving, not condemning, and therefore He is patient with bad people, in order to make good people out of bad people.

For I see that then I was still all in a state of innocence, but that innocence, once lost, is lost forever.

Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky