And New York is the most beautiful city in the world? It is not far from it. No urban night is like the night there... Squares after squares of flame set up and cut into the aether. Here is our poetry for we have pulled down the stars to our will.

As an actor there is room for a certain amount of creativity but you're always ultimately going to be saying somebody else's words. I don't think I'd have the stamina skill or ability to write a novel but I'd love to write short stories and poetry because those are my two passions.

The blood jet is poetry and there is no stopping it.

There is no Frigate like a book to take us lands away nor any coursers like a page of prancing Poetry.

However if a poem can be reduced to a prose sentence there can't be much to it.

There'll always be working people in my poems because I grew up with them and I am a poet of memory.

There is poetry as soon as we realize that we possess nothing.

'Therefore' is a word the poet must not know.

I think there's something great and generic about goldfish. They're everybody's first pet.

There are things that I invented - the creaky geriatric robot that is always grumpy for example or the little wheelie guy he's not in the Hasbro lore. But kids love that stuff - this little guy as a pet on a chain. They gravitate towards it.

There are people all over the world who like to write fan letters in the voice of their pet: 'Hello my name is Fifi and I'm a labrador and I think you're great. Paw paw!'

I try not to wear anything I have to fidget with - there's nothing worse than wearing something and pulling down the hem and re-adjusting the top. My pet hate is when girls wear those strapless dresses and spend the whole night yanking them up.

A pet store is a celebration of dogs' existence and an explosion of options. About cats a pet store seems to say 'Here we couldn't think of anything else.' Cats are the Hanukkah of the animal world in this way. They are feted quietly and happily by a minority but there's only so much hoopla applicable to them.

There's kind of a toll you have to pay with a cat if you don't pet her for 10 minutes she'll bother you for six hours.

A kitten is chiefly remarkable for rushing about like mad at nothing whatever and generally stopping before it gets there.

There's just me and my wife and a dog and we feed him Healthy Choice also.

We have three cats. It's like having children but there is no tuition involved.

There are all sorts of cute puppy dogs but it doesn't stop people from going out and buying Dobermans.

There's a saying. If you want someone to love you forever buy a dog feed it and keep it around.

There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.

No matter how much cats fight there always seem to be plenty of kittens.

When I sing I have a sense of peace I feel like my brain turns off and I become the core person of who I am - the essence of me. I feel connected to whatever is out there. It's almost like I leave my body and get to watch.

On Memorial Day I don't want to only remember the combatants. There were also those who came out of the trenches as writers and poets who started preaching peace men and women who have made this world a kinder place to live.

I therefore declare that if you wish any remission of the taxation which falls upon the homes of the people of England and Wales you can only find it by reducing the great military establishments and diminishing the money paid to fighting men in time of peace.