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

There is nothing worse than the ambitions of a talentless person.

The most important thing I would learn in school was that almost everything I would learn in school would be utterly useless. When I was fifteen I knew the principal industries of the Ruhr Valley, the underlying causes of World War One and what Peig Sayers had for her dinner every day...What I wanted to know when I was fifteen was the best way to chat up girls. That is what I still want to know.

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

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

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.