“What you compose with is neither here nor there, you compose with word...” — Ian Hamilton Finlay Quote

“What you compose with is neither here nor there, you compose with words, or you compose with stone plants and trees, or you compose with events; the Sheriff's officer, or whatever.”

“However, I don't feel the world is looking over my shoulder when I am working - I never think about this at all. What I think about is trying to make my work pure, and if it is pure then it can be accessible. It is quite straight forward really.”

“I am not a modern man, I am just a wee old fashioned one.”

“It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table.”

“It was hard to write or compose... we just had to go back and finish making songs. If we make 20 songs, we'll throw away 10.”

“'TIME's spell-check always admonishes me whenever I compose a sentence in the passive voice, a warning that is often ignored by me.”