An odd phrase, "by heart," he would add, as though poems were stored in the bloodstream.

Never stop paying attention to things. Never make your mind up finally. Do not hold beliefs.

I know that part of the reason I read Tolkien when I'm ill is that there is an almost total absence of sexuality in his world, which is restful.

In our world of sleek flesh and collagen, botox and liposuction, what we most fear is the dissolution of the body-mind, the death of the brain.

There is a peculiar aesthetic pleasure in constructing the form of a syllabus, or a book of essays, or a course of lectures. Visions and shadows of people and ideas can be arranged and rearranged like stained-glass pieces in a window, or chessmen on a board.

I think there are a lot more important things than art in the world. But not to me.

The more research you do, the more at ease you are in the world you're writing about. It doesn't encumber you, it makes you free.