When I was asked to be Writer in Residence at Edinburgh I thought, you can't teach poetry. This is ridiculous.

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.

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.

Well, I love fishing. I wouldn't kill a fly myself but I've no hesitation in killing a fish. A lot of men are like that. No bother. Out you come. Thump. And that's not the only reason.

Awake my great soul.Awake my great spirit.Awake my great strength.

If u are still alive and in your right senses, you are still destined to win greatly in life.

No animal admires another animal.

I'd rather have Prada shoes than eat.

If you eat food or produce, you should take into account where that food comes from.

It's not easy to just say you don't want to do something any more.

There is rough work to be done, and rough men must do it; there is gentle work to be done, and gentlemen must do it.

Fiction is nothing less than the subtlest instrument for self-examination and self-display that Mankind has invented yet.

The mighty army of time is without equal.

First of all you must understand that practising martial arts means studying a certain oriental philosophy of life, otherwise it's merely a vacuous sport devoid of any significance.