My childhood here... was very limited. So it was a long, long time before I actually went out to Brooklyn.

You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.

It’s lovely to know that the world can’t interfere with the inside of your head.

Stock your mind. It is your house of treasure and no one in the world can interfere with it.

Sing your song. Dance your dance. Tell your tale.

I say, Billy, what’s the use in playing croquet when you’re doomed? He says, Frankie, what’s the use of not playing croquet when you’re doomed?

I learned the significance of my own insignificant life.

After a full belly all is poetry.

It's not enough to be American. You always have to be something else, Irish-American, German-American, and you'd wonder how they'd get along if someone hadn't invented the hyphen

A mother's love is a blessing No matter where you roam. Keep her while you have her, You'll miss her when she's gone -- Angela's Ashes.

The sky is the limit. You never have the same experience twice.

The pages and the words are my world, spread out before your eyes and for your hand to touch. Vaguely, I can see you face looking down into me, as I look back. Do you see my eyes?

We live vicariously through stories, because our own lives provide so few opportunities for high-stakes adventure and noble sacrifice.

No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.

At such a time it seems natural and good to me to ask myself these questions. What do I believe in? What must I fight for and what must I fight against?

It was as helpful as throwing a drowning man both ends of the rope.

Well, I think music for kids is never anything but experimental is it?

You can't just have stuff that is free and escapist, you have to have stuff that is confrontational as well. You need stuff that is mystical but you need the realism too.

Simplicity is an enduring habit within a soul that has grown impervious to evil thoughts.

It's about mass immigration at a time when 21% of young people can't find work. It's about giving £50 million a day to the EU when the public finances are under great strain.

When you're winning, everyone is a fan.