I started writing when I was about thirteen.

I was desperately unhappy trying to adjust to the world.

I’m not religious in any formal sense, not in any God sense.

In my own mind, I was sort of a desperate kid.

Things were so bad we ate rabbits that neighbours had run over and gave to us because they knew we were broke.

‘A collected poems’ is either a gravestone or a testimonial to survival.

What is forgiven is usually well remembered.

There are two kinds of people; those who are always well and those who are always sick. Most of the evils of the world come from the first sort and most of the achievement from...

At a certain age you’re always uncertain how other people will take you.

The philistine provides the best definition of art. Anything that makes him rage is first class.

For me, the vast marvel is to be alive. For man, or for flowers or beast or bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly and perfectly alive.

Art is anything people do with distinction.

I don’t think I do have a soul.