We have to make our own happiness, and we have to make our own decisions and play the hand that is dealt to us.

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

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.

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.

Always write as if you are talking to someone. It works. Don't put on any fancy phrases or accents or things you wouldn't say in real life.

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

Nobody is ordinary if you know where to look.