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

After a full belly all is poetry.

I learned the significance of my own insignificant life.

Oh, God above, if heaven has a taste it must be an egg with butter and salt, and after the egg is there anything in the world lovelier than fresh warm bread and a mug of sweet golden tea?

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned, it's been a minute since my last confession.

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.

Love her as in childhood Through feeble, old and grey. For you’ll never miss a mother’s love Till she’s buried beneath the clay.