At home in Ireland, there's a habit of avoidance, an ironical attitude towards the authority figure.

I have begun to think of life as a series of ripples widening out from an original center.

When I was teaching, I gave a lot of my mind and anxiety to it. There was always something clenched and anxious in me until the classes were over.

History says, Don’t hope On this side of the grave, But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme

Harvard meant a lot in my writing life from the beginning, even though I didnt actually do much composition on the spot.

Write whatever you like!

But even so, none of the news of these world-spasms entered me as terror.