Fiction is life with the dull bits left out.

It's a big thing to call yourself a poet. All I can say is that I have always written poems. I don't think I'm interested in any discussion about whether I'm a good poet, a bad poet or a great poet. But I am sure, I want to write great poems. I think every poet should want that.

In Italy, for the same price as a typical British hamburger meal including sweet, a builder's labourer could eat like a king - rather better in fact, because pasta dishes gain from being kept simple.

A loose horse is any horse sensible enough to get rid of its rider at an early stage and carry on unencumbered.

I actually didn't like that feeling of being out of touch because what I do depends on being in touch. But it's fun to talk about. That's one of the real dangers of drugs: they're too much fun to talk about.

Stop worrying, nobody gets out of this world alive.

The Canadian version of Julius Caesar's memoirs? I came, I saw, I coped.