Habit is not mere subjugation, it is a tender tie; when one remembers habit it seems to have been happiness.

Each piece of dialogue MUST be "something happening". . .The "amusing" for its OWN sake should above all be censored. . .The functional use of dialogue for the plot must be the first thing in the writer's mind. Where functional usefulness cannot be established, dialogue must be left out.

For people who live on expectations, to face up to their realization is something of an ordeal.

Sport and death are the two great socializing factors in Ireland.

Solitary and farouche people don't have relationships; they are quite unrelatable. If you and I were capable of being altogether house-trained and made jolly, we should be nicer people, but not writers.

I think the main thing, don't you, is to keep the show on the road.

What I have found is, anything one keeps hidden should now and then be hidden somewhere else.