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"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."
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"That men, who might have tower'd in the vanOf all the congregated world, to fanAnd winnow from the coming step of timeAll chaff of custom, wipe away all slimeLeft by men-slugs and human serpentry,Have been content to let occasion die,Whilst they did sleep in love's Elysium."

"My love is a winter's mistgently dissolvingthrough the windowat the nape of your neck."

"Poems can getsleepless tooand becomethe loneliest thingin the universe."

"Whatever you get out of poetry - take it. take it. take it. Words are better off felt than understood."

"I do think that poetry is important though, if you don't strive at it, if you don't fill it full of stars and falseness."

"A poem in the heart is worthmore than a million dollarsin the bank account."

"But here there is no light, Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy waysI cannot see what flowers are at my feet, Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs, But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet..Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine, The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves."

"May this poetrybe the homeyou will someday come back to."

"The American bards shall be marked for generosity and affection and for encouraging competitors. The great poets are also to be known by the absence in them of tricks and by the justification of perfect personal candor. How beautiful is candor! All faults may be forgiven of him who has perfect candor."
Explore more quotes by Norman MacCaig

"All I write about is what's happened to me and to people I know, and the better I know them, the more likely they are to be written about."

"When I talk of hearing a poet's voice speaking, I always think of it as in the presence of the man."

"And some poets are far better read off the page because they're very bad speakers. I'm thinking of one in particular whom I won't name, a good poet, and he reads in such a dry, boring way, your eyes start drooping."

"I used to fish the Border rivers, but nowadays you have to queue up for a shot and I can't stand that."

"However, I learned something. I thought that if the young person, the student, has poetry in him or her, to offer them help is like offering a propeller to a bird."
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