The Irish have a flair for wringing from death the last drop of emotion and they do not quite understand those who react otherwise.

I wonder if those experts who tell us that our sexual appetite is the strongest know what real thirst feels like; I can imagine the desire for water driving someone to commit a crime to which sexual desire could never drive them.

hatred, however apparently justifiable, excusable or inevitable, always damages the hater.

On my tenth birthday a bicycle and an atlas coincided as presents and a few days later I decided to cycle to India.

Buying a bicycle is a momentous event, akin to marriage: you are acquiring a partner.

On my tenth birthday a bicycle and an atlas coincided as gifts, and a few days later I decided to cycle to India...However, I was a cunning child so I kept my ambition to myself, thus avoiding the tolerant amusement it would have provoked among my elders.

Undoubtedly the Afghans must be, by our standards, the best-looking people in the world. They have everything; height, proportions, carriage, features and complexion.