The problem with Ireland is that it's a country full of genius, but with absolutely no talent.

My life is every moment of my life. It is not a culmination of the past.

A thing well done is worth doing.

There is only one immutable law in life - in a gentleman's toilet, incoming traffic has the right of way.

Sometimes silence resolves a conversation confused by Mad Misconstruction.

Gossip is more popular than literature.

I feel like the writer observing the grief, but it is difficult to be detached from it.

Arnold Bennett was a writer I admired. He was actually taking notes at his father's deathbed.

An Irishman will always soften bad news, so that a major coronary is no more than 'a bad turn' and a near hurricane that leaves thousands homeless is 'good drying weather'.

In life there exist two classes: first class and no class.

My father I liked, but it was only after his death that I got to know him by writing the play.

the world most unfortunate situations when sensible meet insensible animals (human)

I want you to channel Jessica Rabbit and give him a show.

Loving someone more than they love you is a sucky thing. But I’m over it.

The worst that you can say about him (God) is that basically he's an underachiever.

It is one of the beautiful compensations of this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

What is the secret of success? Right decisions. How do you make right decisions? Experience. How do you gain experience? Wrong decisions.

I was passionate about reading from an early age, and I would always be carrying a different book each week.

With studio work, I'm always the bottom man on the totem pole.

You had better live your best and act your best and think your best today; for today is the sure preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow.

Another thing I learned is that novels, even those from apparently distant times and places, remain current and enlightening, and also comforting.