ByQuotes

Carol Ann Duffy Quotes

Powerful Carol Ann Duffy for Daily Growth

I still have a feeling that I haven't written the best that I can write. I think all poets must feel this: that there is constantly something new to be discovered in the language. It's like a thrilling encounter, and you can find things.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Feel, I Think, Discovered, Thrilling

Like the sand and the oyster, it's a creative irritant. In each poem, I'm trying to reveal a truth, so it can't have a fictional beginning.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Beginning, Reveal, Like, Fictional

Edinburgh is my favourite city. We'll be doing a lot of children's theatre and galleries.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Theatre, Doing, Lot, Edinburgh

I write in that space between Ella's childhood and mine. I know it all sounds a bit sinister.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Childhood, I Write, Mine, Ella

I write quite a lot of sonnets, and I think of them almost as prayers: short and memorable, something you can recite.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Think, I Think, I Write, Recite

I grew up in a bookless house - my parents didn't read poetry, so if I hadn't had the chance to experience it at school I'd never have experienced it. But I loved English, and I was very lucky in that I had inspirational English teachers, Miss Scriven and Mr. Walker, and they liked us to learn poems by heart, which I found I loved doing.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Doing, Lucky, Very, Walker

The poem is a form of texting... it's the original text. It's a perfecting of a feeling in language - it's a way of saying more with less, just as texting is.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Original, More, Texting, Perfecting

The poem is the literary form of the 21st century. It's able to connect young people in a deep way to language... it's language as play.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Deep, Play, Young, 21st Century

I think poetry can help children deal with the other subjects on the curriculum by enabling them to see a subject in a new way.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Think, New, Enabling, Curriculum

Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Nothing, Happen, Could, I Wonder

You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what's in your heart.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Memory, News, Bus, Everyday

I'll be left writing picture books and fairy tales.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Left, Books, Picture Books, Tales

It's always good when women win things in fiction because it tends to be more male-dominated, unlike poetry, which is more equal.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Always, Fiction, Which, Tends

I have piles of poetry books in the bathroom, on the stairs, everywhere. The only way to write poetry is to read it.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Everywhere, Books, Read, Bathroom

Christmas is taken very seriously in this household. I believe in Father Christmas, and there's no way I'd do anything to undermine that belief.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Christmas, Very, Undermine, Household

If we think of what's up ahead, with climate change and wars over water, it's very frightening.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Think, Over, Very, Frightening

I see the shape of the poem before I start writing, and the writing is just the process of arriving at the shape.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Process, See, Poem, Arriving

Poets deal in writing about feelings and trying to find the language and images for intense feelings.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Trying, Deal, Images, Intense

If I felt, in the event of a royal wedding, inspired to write about people coming together in marriage or civil partnership, I would just be grateful to have an idea for the poem. And if I didn't, I'd ignore it.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Poem, Idea, About, Royal

Between 9am and 3pm is when I work most intensely.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Work, Most, Between, Intensely

Having a child takes you back to all those parts of your own childhood that you had hidden away.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Childhood, Away, Having, Parts

I am always pleased to be asked to write a poem.

- Carol Ann Duffy

I Am, Poem, Always, Pleased

I always say that I'll have a go and see whether the poem works and if it does, then fine.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Go, Always, Works, Poem

When you have a child, your previous life seems like someone else's. It's like living in a house and suddenly finding a room you didn't know was there, full of treasure and light.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Living, Like, Previous, Suddenly

I like to think that I'm a sort of poet for our times.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Think, Like, Times, Poet

I still read Donne, particularly his love poems.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Love, Poetry, Still, Poems

The moment of inspiration can come from memory, or language, or the imagination, or experience - anything that makes an impression forcibly enough for language to form.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Memory, Come, Makes, Impression

I think the dangers are different now. Our abuse of the planet and our resources is an anxiety.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Anxiety, Think, I Think, Dangers

Poetry and prayer are very similar.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Prayer, Poetry, Very, Similar

I always wanted a child. Being a mother is the central thing in my life.

- Carol Ann Duffy

Mother, My Life, Always, Central

If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.