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

I don't think I am any good. If I thought I was any good, I wouldn't be.

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

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

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.

Norfolk would not be Norfolk without a church tower on the horizon or round a corner up a lane. We cannot spare a single Norfolk church. When a church has been pulled down the country seems empty or is like a necklace with a jewel missing.

On out deathbeds we're not going to regret all the work we didn't do. We're going to regret all the sex we didn't have!