This race and this country and this life produced me, he said. I shall express myself as I am.
James JoyceWhat is better than to sit at the end of the day and drink wine with friends, or substitutes for friends?
James JoyceI could call my wandering thoughts together. I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life which, now that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me child's play, ugly monotonous child's play.
James JoyceTo discover the mode of life or of art whereby my spirit could express itself in unfettered freedom.
James JoyceEvery night as I gazed up at the window I said softly to myself the word paralysis. It had always sounded strangely in my ears, like the word gnomon in the Euclid and the word simony in the Catechism. But now it sounded to me like the name of some maleficent and sinful being. It filled me with fear, and yet I longed to be nearer to it and to look upon its deadly work.
James Joyce