I need my natural laziness to be counteracted by obsession in order to do anything.

In a painting, you can't make out whether the artist painted the left eye before the right eye. In Chinese calligraphy, you can see the progression of the artist's stroke.

Everyone sort of sees his own life and times as being ephemeral. One thinks that everything good or important that happened, happened in the past. But I think that seeing scenes that you are used to, but with the heightening effects of poetry, perhaps makes you value your life and times more than you might otherwise do.

Those books of mine that are remunerative - I'm not talking about poetry here - take years to write, and I am never sure they'll be successful. So writing is a risk in more senses than one.

I think if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well. And worth thinking about it as well.

I want my books to sell, to be read. I'm not interested in being obscure.

For a writer, obsession is a good substitute for self-discipline.