The way I take in the world is by seeing it; that is very much evident in the songs that I write.

The big problem with songwriting for me is starting a new song. It's the thing where all the anguish exists, not in the writing of the song, but the starting of the new song.

You searched through all my poets, From Sappho through to Auden, I saw the book fall from your hands, As you slowly died of boredom.

I've always had an obligation to creation, above all.

You don't meet a lot of people that you really like. I don't anyway.

I'm a kind of hard-wired pessimist. I can't help but see the world in a certain kind of way.

All of our days are numbered. We cannot afford to be idle. To act on a bad idea is better than to not act at all, because the worth of an idea never becomes apparent until you do it.