I've said what I'm prepared to say in my poems, and then journalists think that you're going to tell them a whole lot more.

I like buying clothes, especially as I get a tax-deductible allowance.

Write to amuse? What an appalling suggestion! I write to make people anxious and miserable and to worsen their indigestion.

I always tell students that writing a poem and publishing it are two quite separate things, and you should write what you have to write, and if you're afraid it's going to upset someone, don't publish it.

Possibly I've become less funny as I've been happier.

Bloody men are like bloody buses - you wait for about a year and as soon as one approaches your stop two or three others appear.

My heart has made its mind up And I’m afraid it’s you. Whatever you’ve got lined up, My heart has made its mind up And if you can’t be signed up This year, next year will do. My heart has made its mind up And I’m afraid it’s you.