You're much more believable if you talk in your own voice.

I think you've got to play the hand that you're dealt and stop wishing for another hand.

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

You say to yourself: 'What could people, in all these countries, find in my books?' and yet I think we're all the same, anywhere. Everybody is a hero or a dramatic person in their own story if you just know where to look.

I don't have ugly ducklings turning into swans in my stories. I have ugly ducklings turning into confident ducks.

My memory of my home was that it was very happy, and that there was more fun and life there than there was anywhere else.

If I had my life to live all over again, I really think I would have been a fit person. Looking around me, I realise that the men and women who walked and ran and swam and played sport look better and feel better than the rest of us.