Because children grow up, we think a child's purpose is to grow up. But a child's purpose is to be a child. Nature doesn't disdain what lives only for a day. It pours the whole of itself into the each moment. We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last.

Words... They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good any more... I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you're dead.

Give us this day our daily mask.

Carnal embrace is the practice of throwing one's arms around a side of beef.

I'm going to be dead before I read the books I'm going to read.

I like pop music. I consider rock 'n' roll to be a branch of pop music.

Theatre is a series of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.