Child and serpent, star and stone — all one.

The Irish, as a race, have the oral tradition in their blood. A direct question to them is an anathema, but in other cases, a mere syllable of a hero's name will elicit whole chapters of stories.

Don't you know that everybody's got a Fairyland of their own?

There’s great beauty on this world if you just have the eyes to see it.

All of us are subject to being passive to the social ills around us. It's a struggle not to become, by staying silent, an accomplice.

A writer is, after all, only half his book. The other half is the reader and from the reader the writer learns.

More and more I’ve become convinced that the great treasure to possess is the unknown.

If we are going to teach the world to stop hating the different, the other, then we’re going to have to start with children.

Once we have accepted the story we cannot escape the story's fate.

Tea is balm for the soul, don't you agree?

I was raised to believe that everybody has a responsibility to their community.

Knowledge has a great power. Therefore, unethical use of knowledge can be extremely harmful.

Women's liberation by women who are already liberated through channels that would mess them up further

Before success can truly become routine, there must be that transition from that wanting/hoping to have success toward honestly knowing you can earn success with your talents and work ethic.

Meaninglessnes s inhibits fullness of life and is therefore the equivalent to illness. Meaning makes a great many things endurable--perh aps everything.

In my very first interview, at nine years old, I said I wanted to be an Olympic gold medalist. That was the first time I said it out loud in front of somebody other than my parents.

A little quiet reflection will remind me that yes to God always leads in the end to joy.

Keep your eye on the ball.

Of course there's objective truth, but when we're looking at people's accounts of it, it seems the real truth lies in the accretion of all these different versions.

Humor is the most honest of emotions. Applause for a speech can be insincere, but with humor, if the audience doesn't like it there's no faking it.

Virtues, like essences, lose their fragrance when exposed.