Seamus Heaney Time Quotations

Every time you read a poem aloud to yourself in the presence of others, you are reading it into yourself and them. Voice helps to carry words farther and deeper than the eye.

I've nothing against the Queen personally: I had lunch at the Palace once upon a time.

I don't do as many readings as I used to. There was a time when I was on the road a lot more, at home in Ireland, in Britain, in Canada and the States, a time when I had more stamina and appetite for it.

The problem as you get older... is that you become more self-aware. At the same time, you have to surprise yourself. There's no way of arranging the surprise, so it is tricky.

The wartime, in other words, was pre-reflective time for me. Pre-literate too. Pre-historical in its way.