I wasn’t reading poetry because my aim was to work my way through English Literature in Prose A–Z.But this was diff

Why is the measure of love loss?

Yes, the stories are dangerous, she was right. A book is a magic carpet that flies you off elsewhere. A book is a door. You open it. You step through. Do you come back?

...there are two kinds of writing: the one you write and the one that writes you.

Part fact part fiction is what life is. And it is always a cover story. I wrote my way out.

Six books… my mother didn’t want books falling into my hands. It never occurred to her that I fell into the books – that I put myself inside them for safe keeping.

Sometimes you have to live in precarious and temporary places. Unsuitable places. Wrong places. Sometimes the safe place won't help you.

Where you are born--what you are born into, the place, the history of the place, how that history mates with your own-- stamps who you are, whatever the pundits of globalisation have to say.

Memory loss is one way of coping with damage.

To tell someone not to be emotional is to tell them to be dead.

We bury things so deep we no longer remember there was anything to bury. Our bodies remember. Our neurotic states remember. But we don't.

But the fact is that the vast majority of Republicans support the Sinn Fein leadership.

The whole point of music is being able to share your story.

My relationship with my parents is among the greatest gifts of my life.

Reality isn't what it used to be.

I've been very successful at negotiating debates.

Those who approach life like a child playing a game, moving and pushing pieces, possess the power of kings.

My bottom line is that monetary policy should react to rising prices for houses or other assets only insofar as they affect the central bank's goal variables - output, employment, and inflation.

You are writing the story of your only life every single minute of every day.

Don't cry out loud, keep it inside, learn how to hide your feelings. Fly high and proud, and if you should fall, remember you almost had it all.

Established systems are inherently hostile to change.