Of one thing the reader can be certain: the more easily anything reads, the harder it has been to write.

That is the tragedy of growing old, Chris. You don't leave the world. It leaves you.

[On the Irish:] Strange race ... Don't know what they want, but want it like the devil.

The author lives with one foot in an everyday world and the other feeling about anxiously for a foothold in another more precarious one.

Men were not equal in the effort they made, nor did equal efforts bring equal result. ... Equality of opportunity, yes. Equality of effort and result, no.

because we are always staring at the stars, we learn the shortness of our arms.

We are often miserable at our desk or typewriters, but not happy away from them.