“I read 'Treasure Island' for the first time at university. And I start...” — Andrew Motion Quote

I read 'Treasure Island' for the first time at university. And I started to notice then how unresolved some things were. Later, I realised that Stevenson was interested in sequels, and I wondered whether he would have gone back to it had he lived longer.

I am writing more than I have ever done. My life has come back to me in the most extraordinary way.

Pretty much the day I stopped being laureate, the poems that had been few and far between came back to me, like birds in the evening nesting in a tree.

In a fragile environment, we need to be aware of ourselves as members of a uniquely powerful species living among other species who are quite as interesting as we are but vulnerable to us because we are cleverer in more destructive ways.

I'm from Long Island, which is a very cookie-cutter place.

You don't usually find an island in a New York kitchen.

The thing I love about Vegas is that it's a melting pot. It's like working Ellis Island.

People talk about Social Security. There is no parallel between Rhode Island's pension and Social Security.

When my son was born, I was still playing in a summer league in Rhode Island.