I had a very happy childhood, which is unsuitable if you're going to be an Irish writer.

I don't have ugly ducklings turning into swans in my stories. I have ugly ducklings turning into confident ducks.

I try to make my characters kind of ordinary, somebody that anybody could be. Because we've all had loves, perhaps love and loss, people can relate to my characters.

Nobody is ordinary if you know where to look.

I'm an escapist kind of writer.

Women who start out as ugly ducklings don't become beautiful swans. What they mainly become is confident ducks. They take charge of their lives.

The whole art of life is knowing the right time to say things.

Always write as if you are talking to someone. It works. Don't put on any fancy phrases or accents or things you wouldn't say in real life.

If you don't go to a dance you can never be rejected but you'll never get to dance either.

Because I saw my parents relaxing in armchairs and reading and liking it, I thought it was a peaceful grown-up thing to do, and I still think that.

We are all the heroes and heroines of our own lives. Our love stories are amazingly romantic; our losses and betrayals and disappointments are gigantic in our own minds.

In life, if you want to be happy, choose to be optimistic.

Act-act in the living present!

The successful man is the one who had the chance and took it.

Being joyful is our natural state of being.

We use only 10% of our brains... Imagine how smart we would be if we used the other 60%!

There is no alienation that a little power will not cure.

I give people If You Came Softly when they demand proof that novels for teens can be as good as the best novels for adults.

I don't think it's time yet to eliminate cash, but I propose having a less-cash society, not a cashless one.

It lies upon the people's shoulders to prepare for the war, but it lies upon the Israeli army to carry out the fight with the ultimate object of erecting the Israeli Empire.

It is said to be the manner of hypochondriacs to change often their physician.