Norman MacCaig Quotes

When I talk of hearing a poet's voice speaking, I always think of it as in the presence of the man.

Norman MacCaig

• Voice
• Poet
• Speaking

All those authors there, most of whom of course I've never met. That's the poetry side, that's the prose side, that's the fishing and miscellaneous behind me. You get an affection for books that you've enjoyed.

Norman MacCaig

• Author
• Affection
• Side

When I was a teacher, teachers would come into my classroom and admire my desk on which lay nothing whatever, whereas theirs were heaped with papers and books.

Norman MacCaig

• Teacher
• Papers
• Desk

I don't care whether a book is a first edition or not. I'm not a bibliophile in that word's natural sense.

Norman MacCaig

• Book
• Sense
• Edition

And in a way, that's been a help to me, because I take great passions for a particular poet - sometimes it lasts for many years, sometimes only for a while. This happens to everybody.

Norman MacCaig

• Help
• Passion
• Poet

It's like breathing in and out to me. It's like having a conversation with someone who isn't there. Because it has to be addressed to somebody - not a particular person, or very rarely.

Norman MacCaig

• Person
• Conversation
• Addressed

People haven't got the interest in long long works these days. A lack of interest which I share.

Norman MacCaig

• Interest
• Share
• Works

All I write about is what's happened to me and to people I know, and the better I know them, the more likely they are to be written about.

Norman MacCaig

• People
• Know
• Write

Anybody who writes doesn't like to be misunderstood.

Norman MacCaig

• Write
• Misunderstood

I never think about poetry except when I'm writing it. I mean my poetry.

Norman MacCaig

• Think
• Poetry
• Except