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

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.

You feel a sense of urgency, especially at my advanced age, when you're staring into the grave.

I say, Billy, what’s the use in playing croquet when you’re doomed? He says, Frankie, what’s the use of not playing croquet when you’re doomed?

Before the famine, which was in the 1840s, that was an emotional turning point... There are various documents showing how the Elizabethan English, in particular, were shocked by Irish displays of affection, by the way women acted toward strangers, walking up and putting their arms around them and kissing them right full on the mouth.

The main thing I am interested in is my experience as a teacher.

There's nothing sillier in the world than a teacher telling you don't do it after you already did it.