I want to prove that if you write in strict meter and rhyme about subjects people care about, they will buy poetry.

There are far too many people in university in Britain. If you want to make money, be a plumber.

Rhyme, that enslaved queen, that supreme charm of our poetry, that creator of our meter.

There are as many forms of happiness as sorrow, though most prove fleeting.

With a poetry book I can send 100 copies out to reviewers and other people, and even do it in advance and get their response. It's difficult with iPad: how do you send it out for free, and how do you even disseminate it before it goes into their store?

You have to persuade yourself that you absolutely don't care what happens. If you don't care, you've won. I absolutely promise you, in every serious negotiation, the man or woman who doesn't care is going to win.