If I wasn't plagued by needing to write things, that would perhaps be a blessing.

I could not flourish in the Hollywood system because the first thing spoken about is "What genre is it?" and "Who's it for?" It's a very strange question to me; it's for human beings.

We're all ordinary in a way. We can all be hurt. We can all be unbalanced. We all have feelings. Life can treat us harshly, even shockingly sometimes.

The play is a very simple idea really; someone needs some support and consolation, and she finds a place where she gets it.

I guess Im attracted and repelled by isolation. It scares me. And its why I tend to write about older characters, too, because for them the stakes are somewhat higher.

Directing is such a crucial part of the writing process; you start directing and you see what does not work. "Oh, God, what was I thinking?" and then you can rearrange it.

I love stories that frame that: This is what life is about - you don't have a clue.

I think Catholicism took root very quickly in Ireland because it's a very superstitious religion, the holy ghost, the holy spirit, it has a goddess, very visual, the music.

We know so little of the why, what the universe is, what infinity is. The veil around us is very fragile.

I just want the actors to put their faith in the language. Just let the words do the work.

I have a theory about Ireland, being at the edge of Europe. For 1,000 years, people didnt know what was beyond. But we thought about it - a lot. And that beyond became internalized in our psyche.

The words kept coming back to him, statement of a mystical truth and a palpable absurdity.

Allow yourself to be alive every single day of your life.

you never know your true genius untill you do what you love

Love is the greatest power and it is, if natural, the highest 'invisible food' from the infinite for soul and body.

"O, Mrs. Clennam, Mrs. Clennam," said Little Dorrit, "angry feelings and unforgiving deeds are no comfort and no guide to you and me."

Libya is a war of the womb. A product of the romantic minds of women who fantasize about an Arab awakening. It is estrogen-driven paternalism on steroids.

We can't have everything! It took a lot of growing up for me to realize this unalterable fact and to discipline myself into accepting it.

An ounce of help is worth more than a pound of pity any day.

The sun shall shine in ages yet to be, The musing moon illumine pastures dim, And afterwards a new nativity For all who slept the dreamless interim.

We always make the mistake, the fatal mistake in the case of military people, of imagining that each war will be a kind of version of the one that happened previously.