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.
John BetjemanOn 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!
John BetjemanTopography is one of my chief themes in my poetry, about the country, the suburbs and the seaside. Then there comes love... and increasingly; the fear of death.
John BetjemanWhat the Londoner sees in his mind's eye is that cluster of towers and pinnacles seen from Pentonville Hill and outlined against a foggy sunset, and the great arc of Barlow's train shed gaping to devour incoming engines, and the sudden burst of exuberant Gothic of the hotel seen from gloomy Judd Street.
John Betjeman