Real misery cuts off all paths to itself.

I think being a woman is like being Irish. Everyone says you're important and nice, but you take second place all the same.

We need a moral philosophy in which the concept of love, so rarely mentioned now by philosophers, can once again be made central.

That's how vile i am! I live Ireland, I breathe Ireland, and Christ how I loathe it, I wish I were a bloody Scot, that's how bloody awful it is being Irish!

Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.

There is nothing like early promiscuous sex for dispelling life's bright mysterious expectations.

Starting a novel is opening a door on a misty landscape; you can still see very little but you can smell the earth and feel the wind blowing.