Peter Hammill

"Obviously we're English middle-class chaps - there's not much voodoo chile about us."

"It is actually, in a way, an incredibly mundane experience. Not everyone has a heart attack but everyone has something or other, so I'm not remotely special. Just because I write songs doesn't make it a better or worse near-death experience."

"Re-awakening isn't easy when you're tired. Don't push me: I was taught self-expression when I was a child"

"The streets seemed very crowded, I put on my bravest guise I know you know that I am acting, I can see it in your eyes."

"These words are not enough to save my soul, they just mock me from the mirror."

"She's here now, perfume coiled like a thuggee scarf"

"If we were always here and now, electric shiver in the spine, how could we turn away, see life as grey and drab? How come we don't see what we have?"