Andrew Motion

“A line of poetry is a chance to get things right.”

“Poetry is the most intimate of all the arts.”

“To be a poet is a condition, not a profession.”

“Teaching is a very good way of keeping your own mind alive.”

“Writing a poem is a way of discovering what you think.”

“The great thing about poetry is that it's always in a state of becoming.”

“Even if you're writing a sonnet, which is a very strict form, you can still have a lot of freedom within it.”

“One of the things that's most difficult in life is to be consistently kind.”

“The worst thing in the world is to be bland.”

“Poetry is a place where you can be yourself, and yet you are also speaking for other people.”

“Every poem is a form of autobiography.”

“What poetry does is touch you on the shoulder and say, 'there's something else going on here'.”

“Good poems are the ones that we can't quite get to the bottom of.”

“Poetry is a way of talking about things that are unsayable.”

“I don't think you can be a good poet without being a good reader of poetry.”

“I'm very interested in the way that people's lives are shaped by the places they live.”

“The sound of a poem is a very important part of its meaning.”