“The poem builds in my mind and sits there, as if in a register, until ...” — John Burnside Quote

“The poem builds in my mind and sits there, as if in a register, until the poem, or a piece of a longer poem, is finished enough to write down. I can hold several lines in my head for quite some time, but as soon as they are written down, the register clears, as it were, and I have to work with what is on the paper.”

“When you have a child, you think about your personal history and what you offer them as a larger narrative, and I realised I knew nothing about my father's circumstances other than what he'd told me.”

“What really matters is your movies and how good a person you are. Otherwise, tabloids and news channels writing about you only builds your curiosity and stardom and propels you to reach wider places.”

“The factory is the machine that builds the machine.”

“Listen, I never expected to be a professional soccer player - never in a million years - because it just wasn't possible really. And then you just go over one hurdle. And then you go over another one, and another one, and it just builds up your confidence.”