Quotes by Al Purdy

• In my own mind, I was sort of a desperate kid.
• 'A collected poems' is either a gravestone or a testimonial to survival.
• Things were so bad we ate rabbits that neighbours had run over and gave to us because they knew we were broke.
• I'm not religious in any formal sense, not in any God sense.
• I was desperately unhappy trying to adjust to the world.
• I started writing when I was about thirteen.
• I don't think I do have a soul.
• For me, the vast marvel is to be alive. For man, or for flowers or beast or bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly and perfectly alive.
• At a certain age you're always uncertain how other people will take you.