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.

I'm getting better, happier, and nicer as I grow older, so I would be terrific in a couple of hundred years time.

Because I saw my parents relaxing in armchairs and reading and liking it, I thought it was a peaceful grown-up thing to do, and I still think that.

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

Everybody is a hero in their own story if you just look.

I believed that old people never laughed. I thought they sighed a lot and groaned. They walked with sticks, and they didn't like children on bicycles or roller skates or with big dogs.

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