"Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it."

"Whether it be a matter of personal relations within a marriage or political initiatives within a peace process, there is no sure-fire do-it-yourself kit."

"The fact of the matter is that the most unexpected and miraculous thing in my life was the arrival in it of poetry itself - as a vocation and an elevation almost."

"A public expectation, it has to be said, not of poetry as such but of political positions variously approvable by mutually disapproving groups."

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."

"The Futurists were an art movement in the early 20th century which basically glorified machines and the Industrial Revolution."

"We human beings are tuned such that we crave great melody and great lyrics. And if somebody writes a great song, it's timeless that we as humans are going to feel something for that and there's going to be a real appreciation."

"What is art? Prostitution."