Carol Ann Duffy's Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

I still read Donne, particularly his love poems.

Carol Ann Duffy

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