Ordinary life bypassed me, but I also bypassed it. It couldn't have been any other way.Conventional life and conventional people are not for me.

It is increasingly clear that the fate of the universe will come to depend more and more on individuals as the bungling of bureaucracy permeates every corner of our existence.

History is said to be written by the victors. Fiction, by contrast, is largely the work of injured bystanders.

When anyone asks me about the Irish character, I say look at the trees. Maimed, stark and misshapen, but ferociously tenacious.

The vote means nothing to women. We should be armed.

Writing is like carrying a fetus.

never forget this moment, the hum of the bee, the saffron threads of the flower, the drawn blinds, nature's assiduousness and human cruelty.

... a country encapsulates our childhood and those lanes, byres, fields, flowers, insects, suns, moons and stars are forever reoccurring.

Promiscuity is the death of love.

I'm an Irish Catholic and I have a long iceberg of guilt.

In a way Winter is the real Spring - the time when the inner things happen, the resurgence of nature.

Killing a man in defense of an idea is not defending an idea; it is killing a man.

You never have to second guess a person or your feelings and instincts about that person if you pay attention to their actions, not solely their words - actions always speak louder.

Do your work for six years; but in the seventh, go into solitude or among strangers, so that the memory of your friends does not hinder you from being what you have become.

I'm not a religious person at all.

MRS ALLONBY Is she such a mystery? LORD ILLINGWORTH She is more than a mystery - she is a mood. MRS ALLONBY Moods don't last. LORD ILLINGWORTH It is their chief charm.

Love is like wildflowers; It's often found in the most unlikely places.

A penny saved is twopence dear.

I like African music, and I'm a huge Ravi Shankar fan.

I oppose the attempts of homosexual activists to treat homosexual activity as a civil right to be protected and promoted by the government.

For me, environment is all. Place — as I was saying about my students — is absolutely essential.