Writing is the product of a deeply disturbed psyche, and by no means therapeutic.

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.

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.

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.

Every sacred marriage will survive all times with great love and patient commitment.

Feeling is to know. Consciously understand that feeling is living.

What lived on-in me- was the discomfort of how completely I'd outgrown the novel I'd once been so happy to live in

Victory becomes, to some degree, a state of mind. Knowing ourselves superior to the anxieties, troubles, and worries which obsess us, we are superior to them.

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

In a downturn, aggressive PR and communications strategy is key.

I do a lot of vintage, of course, but I really feel so particular about clothing. I think it stems from acting, like if I'm not wearing the proper shoes for a character I feel totally off.

It's up to the artist to use language that can be understood, not hide it in some private code... obscurity is usually the refuge of incompetence.

Don't worry about it. Babe Ruth struck out on occasion, too.

Make the upcoming hour overflow with joy, and let pleasure drown the brim.