quotes from classic

In fact a lot of them I think are absolute baloney. Those Charles Olsens and people like that. At first I was interested in seeing what they were up to, what they were doing, why they were doing it. They never moved me in the way that one is moved by true poetry.

more quotes from Norman MacCaig

There are some friends you don't meet for twenty years and when you meet them again it's as if no twenty years has happened - you're lucky when that happens. I feel the same about books.

more quotes from Norman MacCaig

I find it's impossible for me to read Proust.

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I only keep books that I like very much. Otherwise I'd throw them out.

more quotes from Norman MacCaig

All those authors there, most of whom of course I've never met. That's the poetry side, that's the prose side, that's the fishing and miscellaneous behind me. You get an affection for books that you've enjoyed.

more quotes from Norman MacCaig

I don't think of myself all the time.

more quotes from Norman MacCaig

But I hang on to books. I love them. I even think they're very nice decor in a room - far better than paintings... That's not quite true!

more quotes from Norman MacCaig

I'm very gregarious, but I love being in the hills on my own.

more quotes from Norman MacCaig

It's like breathing in and out to me. It's like having a conversation with someone who isn't there. Because it has to be addressed to somebody - not a particular person, or very rarely.

more quotes from Norman MacCaig

I said I have no powers of invention. Well, I also have no powers of mimicry.

more quotes from Norman MacCaig

I never think about poetry except when I'm writing it. I mean my poetry.

more quotes from Norman MacCaig

And the second question, can poetry be taught? I didn't think so.

more quotes from Norman MacCaig

There are plenty of ruined buildings in the world but no ruined stones.

more quotes from Hugh MacDiarmid

Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.

more quotes from George MacDonald

Where there is no choice, we do well to make no difficulty.

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Age is not all decay; it is the ripening, the swelling, of the fresh life within, that withers and bursts the husk.

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Love is the opener as well as closer of eyes.

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Many a thief is a better man than many a clergyman, and miles nearer to the gate of the kingdom.

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To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it.

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Anything large enough for a wish to light upon, is large enough to hang a prayer upon.

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