Norman MacCaig

I'm very gregarious, but I love being in the hills on my own. ↗

— Norman MacCaig

#being #gregarious #hills #i #i love

Well, I love fishing. I wouldn't kill a fly myself but I've no hesitation in killing a fish. A lot of men are like that. No bother. Out you come. Thump. And that's not the only reason. ↗

— Norman MacCaig

#come #fish #fishing #fly #hesitation

A terrible thing about getting oldish is that your friends start dying, and in the last ten years I have lost seven or eight of my closest. ↗

— Norman MacCaig

#closest #dying #eight #friends #getting

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

#better #happened #i #i write #know

And if they haven't got poetry in them, there's nothing you can do that will produce it. ↗

— Norman MacCaig

#haven #nothing #poetry #produce #them

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

#been #everybody #great #great passions #happens

And it's impossible for me to read Henry James. ↗

— Norman MacCaig

#henry james #impossible #james #me #read

And the second question, can poetry be taught? I didn't think so. ↗

— Norman MacCaig

#poetry #question #second #taught #think

But I hang on to books. I love them. I even think they're very nice decor in a room - far better than paintings... That's not quite true! ↗

— Norman MacCaig

#books #even #far #hang #i

Anybody who writes doesn't like to be misunderstood. ↗

— Norman MacCaig

#like #misunderstood #who #writes