Happiness is knowing and appreciating what you've got. I am very, very, very grateful for what, to me, is dead easy.

If you don't go to a dance you can never be rejected but you'll never get to dance either.

My father went to work by train every day. It was half an hour's journey each way, and he would read a paperback in four journeys. After supper, we all sat down to read - it was long before TV, remember!

I think I'm brave because I've made decisions based - I hope not entirely selfishly - on what I think is right for me to do next.

I didn't get excited by weight loss, and since I was already happy being fat, I couldn't see the point of it all. I'm 6 ft. and weigh about 18 st. or 19 st., but weighing myself is not something I do with much pleasure.

My brother married young, and his is the best marriage I know.

In Ireland every place you visit and every person you meet has a story. And they love to tell you their stories. Everyone is interested in everything; in a land of storytellers, you will never be bored.