The paradox of Reality is that no image is as compelling as the one which exists only in the mind's eye.

Rumor and gossip, like sound itself, appear to travel by wave-effect, sheer preposterosity being no barrier.

We are on a sexual binge in this country. ... One consequence of this binge is that while people now get into bed more readily and a lot more naturally than they once did, what happens there often seems less important.

Ireland is not at all a simple place, and in many ways it is spare and sad. It has no wealth, no power, no stability, no influence, no fashion, no size. Its only real arts are song and drama and poem. But Limerick alone has two thousand ruined castles and surely that many practicing poets.

Evolution is fascinating to watch. To me it is the most interesting when one can observe the evolution of a single man.

Tourists moved over the piazza like drugged insects on a painted plate.

I reserve my greatest admiration for those who continue to struggle to embrace the whole impossible tangle of snakes that is our society; those who fight to identify and strengthen human connections, and defeat polarizing forces that strain to drive us apart.