At first I threw my weight upon my heels, as one does naturally in a boot, and was a good deal bruised, but after a few hours I learned the natural walk of man, and could follow my guide in any portion of the island.

What is the price of a thousand horses against a son where there is one son only?

In the middle classes the gifted son of a family is always the poorest -- usually a writer or artist with no sense for speculation -- and in a family of peasants, where the average comfort is just over penury, the gifted son sinks also, and is soon a tramp on the roadside.

Foreign languages are another favourite topic, and as these men are bilingual they have a fair notion of what it means to speak and think in many different idioms.

Words, particularly in a play, should have the texture of a crisp, autumn apple.

There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting.

I'm a good scholar when it comes to reading but a blotting kind of writer when you give me a pen.