I'm not involved in politics any more and they're quite right.

But I think it's quite clear in my work that my orientation isn't political or doesn't come out of modern politics.

Politics is almost as exciting as war and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once but in politics many times.

I began the way nearly everybody I ever heard of - I began writing poetry. And I find that to be quite usual with writers their trying their hand at poetry.

PC stuff just lowers the general acceptance of good work and replaces it with bogus poetry that celebrates values that in themselves are probably quite worthy.

And I know I'm supposed to feel guilty for wanting people to buy my books... and books in general? Novels and poetry they belong to the realm of art. How dirty of us to try to hawk art! But after a decade of hand-wringing and apologies I can't quite muster the guilt anymore.

I'm quite sure that most writers would sustain real poetry if they could but it takes devotion and talent.

It is true that short forms of poetry have been cultivated in the Far East more than in modern Europe but in all European literature short forms of poetry are to be found - indeed quite as short as anything in Japanese.

Traditional matter must be glorified since it would be easier to listen to the re-creation of familiar stories than to quite new and unexpected things the listeners we must remember needed poetry chiefly as the re-creation of tired hours.

As things are and as fundamentally they must always be poetry is not a career but a mug's game. No honest poet can ever feel quite sure of the permanent value of what he has written: He may have wasted his time and messed up his life for nothing.

Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them.

Each word bears its weight so you have to read my poems quite slowly.

Hamas the opponents of Arafat the opponents of peace urged a boycott of the election and yet there was an 85 percent turnout where Hamas is supposed to be strong. Isn't that really quite incredible?

I know that. I'm having a ball. I'm not slap happy. I'm just filled up with joy and with peace and with all kinds of things that have eluded me for quite a few years. And they're back and they're thriving.

The minute you got the Nobel Peace Prize things that I said yesterday with nobody paying too much attention I say the same things after I got it - oh! It was quite crucial for people and it helped our morale because apartheid did look invincible.

During times of war hatred becomes quite respectable even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism.

Ah the power of two. There's nothing quite like it. Especially when it comes to paying utility bills parenting cooking elaborate meals purchasing a grown-up bed jumping rope and lifting heavy machinery. The world favours pairs. Who wants to waste the wood building an ark for singletons?

I often get letters quite frequently from people who say how they like the programmes a lot but I never give credit to the almighty power that created nature.

No tendency is quite so strong in human nature as the desire to lay down rules of conduct for other people.

I don't listen to a lot of new stuff. I just like the old stuff. It's all quite dramatic and atmospheric. You'd have an entire story in song. I never listen to like white music - I couldn't sing you a Zeppelin or Floyd song.

I am quite certain in my heart of hearts that modern music and modern art is not a conspiracy but is a form of truth and integrity for those who practise it honestly decently and with all their being.

I start really missing London when I go away. I have a little flat but very central. I live above a pub and you'd think it'd be a nightmare but I like hearing the music and it's quite comforting.

I'm quite private. And I never wanted to be the biggest star in the world really. So in that sense I've got a good balance of doing great shows of making an appearance every now and then and writing music and I don't really have to do much else.

Men are wary of me because they know by listening to my music that a relationship with me will be quite deep.