Christmas is forced upon a reluctant and disgusted nation by the shopkeepers and the press; on its own merits it would wither and shrivel in the fiery breath of universal hatred.

I have never admitted the right of an elderly author to alter the work of a young author, even when the young author happens to be his former self.

If I bind the future I bind my will. If I bind my will I strangle creation.

I showed my appreciation of my native land in the usual Irish way: by getting out of it as soon as I possibly could.

To withhold deserved praise lest it should make its object conceited is as dishonest as to withhold payment of a just debt lest your creditor should spend the money badly.

Of the two lots, the woman's lot of perpetual motherhood, and the man's of perpetual babyhood, I prefer the man's.

The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.