Yet should there hover in their restless headsOne thought, one grace, one wonder at the least, Which into words no virtue can digest.

Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties.", Eighth Series, ed. George Plimpton, 1988)

A man should not compete with his wife in talk but in silence

All the inane, meaningless noises people make that pass for intelligent conversation. They might as well be pigs grunting in the pen. (92)

I have never been nervous in all my life and I have no patience with people who are. If you know what you are going to do you have no reason to be nervous. And I knew what I was going to do.

You have to color outside the lines once in a while if you want to make your life a masterpiece.

I'm especially grateful that they're here at a time when the rest of Ireland is focused on the final round of the Six Nations rugby tournament and the last match of the legendary Brian O'Driscoll.

Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

History teaches us that man learns nothing from history

Accustomed to the veneer of noise, to the shibboleths of promotion, public relations, and market research, society is suspicious of those who value silence.

To do anything, it is first necessary to be doing nothing.