Hugging trees has a calming effect on me. I'm talking about enormous trees that will be there when we are all dead and gone. I've hugged trees in every part of this little island.

One man's transparency is another's humiliation.

For over 30 years, the IRA showed that the British government could not rule Ireland on its own terms.

Making peace, I have found, is much harder than making war.

It will always be a battle a day between those who want maximum change and those who want to maintain the status quo.

The days of humiliation, of second-class citizens and of inequality are over and gone forever.

It might or might not be right to kill, but sometimes it is necessary.

Your determination, selflessness and courage have brought the freedom struggle towards its fulfillment.

If you militarise a situation, you beg for an armed response.

When others stood idly by, you and your families gave your all, in defence of a risen people and in pursuit of Irish freedom and unity.

Once water charges are in place they will only go up. This has been the history of all these charges

Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.

Maybe I should find another doctor

The thing that I prefer, when I'm working on a book, is to do a seven-day week, because it's easy to lose some of the details of what you're doing along the way.

I think we learn slowly as a group, but we learn. The ozone layer is still there.

We should strive to understand the weakness of others.

Ungrateful are those on this earthly road, Who do complain that life is made of tears, That happiness on earth one cannot find, That we are made of sorrows and of fears.

A man who has to go to the village to get the news hasn't heard from himself in a long time.

Those who actually hate animals to the point of being cruel to them are outcasts to the rest of us, no matter where in the world they live.

There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower.

The biggest benefit in my life comes from my Segway, which I use everywhere I am. If I'm going to San Antonio, for example, I'll load it in the car and just go everywhere with it.