"I chose to rewrite it in poetry because the original Ramayana was in poetry- the fact is, it’s sort of been corrupted into prose. In its original form it was an epic poem rather like the Iliad or works of that sort. Rather than traditional poetry, it was a verse novel, without a traditional structure. What I most wanted to do was to preserve the essential musicality of the lines. Especially as the Ramayana like so many stories, was based on a fundamentally oral tradition."

"I believe that the luxuriance of Shakespeare's dramatic instinct largely dominates that outburst of lyric melody which gives the Sonnets their life."

"Every great national literature is a fruit of much foreign sustenance and refreshment, however capable the national spirit may prove of mastering the foreign element."

"Abraham ibn Ezra, that restless, versatile Spaniard who wrote on almost every subject which could interest the medieval mind"

"The alembic of English tolerance has operated by now on the newer arrivals as well. Their sons have taken part in English life, contributed to English achievement, striven for England's betterment, shed their blood in England's wars."

"The legendary missionary journey of St. Paul, which led to the foundation of the British church, presupposes the existence of a Jewish community - always the initial object of his propaganda - even before the capture of Jerusalem by Titus in the year 70."

"My only obligation is to keep myself and other people guessing."

"The hour that dreams are brighter and winds colder, The hour that young love wakes on a white shoulder, O Master of the world, the Persian Dawn. That hour, O Master, shall be bright for thee: Thy merchants chase the morning down the sea, The braves who fight thy war unsheathe the sabre, The slaves who work thy mines are lashed to labour, For thee the waggons of the world are drawn— The ebony of night, the red of dawn!"

"The best actors always retain an air of mystery. The boring actors are the ones who give 100 per cent. One will never get to know the real Jude Law."

"We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go Always a little further; it may be Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow Across that angry or that glimmering sea,White on a throne or guarded in a cave There lies a prophet who can understand Why men were born: but surely we are brave, Who take the Golden Road to Samarkand."

"When the great markets by the sea shut fast All that calm Sunday that goes on and on: When even lovers find their peace at last, And Earth is but a star, that once had shone."

"I have seen old ships sail like swans asleep."

"When even lovers find their peace at last, And Earth is but a star, that once had shone."

"A ship, an isle, a sickle moon — With few but with how splendid stars."

"O friend unseen, unborn, unknown, Student of our sweet English tongue, Read out my words at night, alone: I was a poet, I was young."

"West of these out to seas colder than the Hebrides I must go Where the fleet of stars is anchored and the young Star captains glow."

"The poet's business is not to save the soul of man but to make it worth saving."

"We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage: And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die, We Poets of the proud old lineage Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why."

"I care not if you bridge the seas, Or ride secure the cruel sky, Or build consummate palaces Of metal or of masonry. But have you wine and music still, And statues and a bright-eyed love, And foolish thoughts of good and ill, And prayers to them who sit above?"

"And some to Meccah turn to pray, and I toward thy bed, Yasmin."

"Success did not thrill him in the least. He regarded a success merely as a convenient platform from which to plan a further advance."

"She did not understand what all that meant, but it was evidently something very near his heart, and so she said, "How splendid!""

"Whatever the little man showed him or explained, the designer did nothing but grunt. This was one of his more offensive techniques; he would stand in silence listening to a halting explanation and then grunt, a grunt expressing an ill-tempered scepticism or plain disbelief."

"He was like a little boy let loose in a toy shop, uncertain which of the attractive treasures to pick up first."

"A wiser man than I once said that an unusual man is apt to look unusual. In my department we seek for original thinkers, for the untiring brain that pursues its object by day and by night. If the untiring brain refuses to leave its quest to attend to such matters as the neat arrangement of collar and tie or to removing food stains from its waistcoat, I do not greatly complain."

"You can't go through life sitting on the fence. You've got to make decisions, and sometimes you're pretty sure to make them wrong."

"He was a dark-haired, fresh-faced boy of twenty-one or twenty-two, who adopted the pose that everything was a joke and nothing really mattered."

"If you're going to make your life in a new country you should go before you're twenty-five. After that you start to get associations, little grooves and anchors, that make it difficult to change."

"Personal unpleasantness always upset his work; he could not think clearly if his mind was full of hard things that had been said about him, and he liked thinking clearly. Rows frightened him; he would go to considerable lengths to avoid them."

"She recognised in Mr Honey a man of moods, capable of deep depression; all geniuses, she had read, were men like that."

"For many years the actress had been out of touch with the hard realities of life. All her working life had been spent in the facile world of honky-tonk, of synthetic emotion and of phoney glamour. Now she was getting a glimpse into a new world, a world of hard, stark facts, a world in which things had to be exactly right or people would be killed. She was beginning to perceive that little insignificant men like Mr Honey were the brains behind that world."

"She said, "When you've seen all the new places you've got no more new places to see. And anyway, one new place is just like another new place. . . . I used to like meeting new people every trip - and I still do. But those things, meeting new people, seeing new places, they aren't everything. And while you go on in that sort of life you can't have any real friends or any real home. Because you're never there . . .""

"His agitation was subsiding; already he was becoming aware that he had not got it in him to make these men believe that what he said was true. He had had so much of this in the past; he was accustomed to being right and being disbelieved on vital issues. It was what happened to him; other people could put across their convictions and win credence, but he had never been able to do that. Now it was happening again."

"They sat by the lake for a couple of hours, talking, finding out about each other."

"Airline stewardesses are not chosen for their repellent qualities, and Miss Corder was a very charming girl."

"Differential equations won't help you much in the design of aeroplanes — not yet, anyhow."

"He was one of that great class of Englishmen who love their wives and trust them unquestioningly with their money and their honour, but are apt to hedge a little over their motor-cars."

"Bloody men are like bloody buses - You wait for about a year And as soon as one approaches your stop Two or three others appear."

"It has been said that an engineer is a man who can do for ten shillings what any fool can do for a pound; if that be so, we were certainly engineers."

"People believe what they want to believe."

"Environment has its effect on everybody, and for a time it had a numbing effect on him, preventing him from thinking clearly."

"All good designers are difficult men or they could not be good designers; I think everybody at the table was more or less aware of that. We set ourselves to mollify the great man, and I say that with sincerity. A great man he was, a great designer, and a superlative engineer. But not an easy man to deal with. No."

"I know that people are interested, and I understand why, but I don't want that stuff to overshadow my life. It's just the way it is. I'm a singer, I'm in a band, I've been out with musicians, I've had children with two different musicians. To me, it's no big deal. I only get upset because I want people to listen to the songs. Listen to the LP or come and see my band. I don't like it when people write about my life and don't even mention the music."

"It spurs me on. I'm going to get over that, I'm a good songwriter, my kids are happy, the band is great and I've almost sorted out all my debts. At least I've never sold my story. I've had countless offers but I'd rather be in a bedsit council flat than splashed all over Hello! or the tabloids. I really would, I have a responsibility to my band and my children as well. I don't believe in it, I'm never ever tempted."

"At least I've never sold my story. That's one point for me at least. And I am never going to, there are too many risks to take, so that's a no for me. I've had countless and endless offers but I'd rather be in a nursing home with bad carers than splashed all over the tabloids. So, please don't stir up nonsense to get more people to buy your magazines, or make up something to peddle your own brand of propaganda."

"Lucky Australians! They can go on sleeping for another seven hours and stil pass as early risers."

"He smiled his irresistible smile, but Dora found it highly resistible."

"It must be someone collecting for charity. Respectable women never call the family for any other reason."

"Singer worth their while must watch it; Always count your dotted crotchet."

"What is a harp but an over-sized cheese-slicer with cultural pretensions?"