Sometimes adults seem as though they have cut a chord from being a child.

Some of the people who look the most normal are probably the maddest people trying to look normal.

Dreaming was only nice while it lasted.

If you're from Dublin, for example, chances are you live with your family, if you're lucky enough to, right up to the mid-20s. And most of the people I know, when they finally sort of set off on their own, they don't stray all that far.

When you grow up on an island, what matters is how you stand to the sea.

I've been asked why does Ireland produce so many great musicians, and the answer is it doesn't. When you count the great musicians Ireland has given the world in the last 20 years, you can do it on one hand.

If you are a writer you're at home, which means you're out of touch. You have to make excuses to get out there and look at how the world is changing.