An English journalist called Michael Viney told me when I was 25, that I would write well if I cared a lot what I was writing about. That worked. I went home that day and wrote about parents not understanding their children as well as we teachers did, and it was published the very next week.

I look placid, you see, that's why people think I'm fine. Inside I worry a lot.

I had a very happy childhood, which is unsuitable if you're going to be an Irish writer.

We're nothing if we're not loved. When you meet somebody who is more important to you than yourself, that has to be the most important thing.

If you woke up each morning, and immediately dwelt on your ills, what sort of a day could you look forward to?

We are all the heroes and heroines of our own lives. Our love stories are amazingly romantic; our losses and betrayals and disappointments are gigantic in our own minds.

Never mind money; the gifts of time and skill call into being the richest marketplace in the world.