If you do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. If what you are doing is not working, do something else.

Dublin was turning into Disneyland with super-pubs, a Purgatory open till five in the morning.

Love and freedom are such hideous words. So many cruelties have been done in their name.

Politics' the polite word for antediluvian prejudices, the rags put on by enmity and tribal resentment.

I feel these days like a very large flamingo. No matter what way I turn, there is always a very large bill.

If you do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. If what you are doing is not working, do something else.

(The short story) is a form that has all the power of the novel - some would say more - but none of the self-importance.