I'm not one of those James Joyce intellectuals who can stand back and look at the whole edifice... It was a slow process for me to just crawl out of it, like a snake leaving his skin behind.

Where did I get the nerve to think I could handle American teenagers? Ignorance. That's where I got the nerve.

You have to give yourself credit, not too much because that would be bragging.

It's not enough to be American. You always have to be something else, Irish-American, German-American, and you'd wonder how they'd get along if someone hadn't invented the hyphen

I learned the significance of my own insignificant life.

You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.

I know that big people don't like questions from children. They can ask all the questions they like, How's school? Are you a good boy? Did you say your prayers? but if you ask them did they say their prayers you might be hit on the head.