For me to write I have to be, a, alone, and b, know that nobody is going to question me. I write the way a thief steals; it's a little covert.

It is increasingly clear that the fate of the universe will come to depend more and more on individuals as the bungling of bureaucracy permeates every corner of our existence.

History is said to be written by the victors. Fiction, by contrast, is largely the work of injured bystanders.

When anyone asks me about the Irish character, I say look at the trees. Maimed, stark and misshapen, but ferociously tenacious.

The vote means nothing to women. We should be armed.

Ordinary life bypassed me, but I also bypassed it. It couldn't have been any other way.Conventional life and conventional people are not for me.

Writing is like carrying a fetus.

never forget this moment, the hum of the bee, the saffron threads of the flower, the drawn blinds, nature's assiduousness and human cruelty.

... a country encapsulates our childhood and those lanes, byres, fields, flowers, insects, suns, moons and stars are forever reoccurring.

Promiscuity is the death of love.

I'm an Irish Catholic and I have a long iceberg of guilt.

I woke up this morning as I do every morning, with an attitude of gratitude.

Tell me, if I take you to my room and put you in my bed, what do you think would happen?""I can draw you a diagram. Hint: I'm slot B, and you're tab A.

…all that goes under the name of science is not necessarily scientific, and that all that goes under the name of health-care will not necessarily care for your health.

Have you ever wondered what a church full of Pharisees would be like? 1. They would all attend every service 2. They would all tithe 3. They would all work in the church 4. They would all go to hell

Possible things aren't worth much, it's those crazy impossible things that keep us passionate and alive.

Without free speech no search for Truth is possible; without free speech no discovery of Truth is useful.

I live out of cans a lot. But I try to indulge only in healthy canned food.

In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines 74 lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.

Insecurity is not just a state of mind.

Music and improving the world are two sides of the same coin.