The Irish, as a race, have the oral tradition in their blood. A direct question to them is an anathema, but in other cases, a mere syllable of a hero's name will elicit whole chapters of stories.

Once we have accepted the story we cannot escape the story's fate.

I hate being good. -Mary Poppins

I was brought up Irish, where there was room for my own private world.

A writer is, after all, only half his book. The other half is the reader and from the reader the writer learns.

When I was a child, love to me was what the sea is to a fish: something you swim in while you are going about the important affairs of life.

What I want to know is this: Are the stars gold paper or is the gold paper stars?