The lack of alternatives to an illegal action does not legitimise that action.

The golden age of Luncheon Vouchers ended ten yearsago. For ten years Mickey had been saying, "The goldenage of Luncheon Vouchers is over." And that's what Archieloved about O'Connell's. Everything was remembered,nothing was lost. History was never revised orreinterpreted, adapted or whitewashed. It was as solid andas simple as the encrusted egg on the clock.

I'm very attracted to exile literature - particularly Nabokov - exactly because the idea of being away from home for any serious length of time is so inconceivable to me.

I cannot believe homosexuality is that much fun. Heterosexuality certainly is not.

Writing is my way of expressing - and thereby eliminating - all the various ways we can be wrong-headed.

It's still easier to find the correct Hoover bag than to find one pure person, one pure faith, on the globe.

Where I come from," said Archie, "a bloke likes to get to know a girl before he marries her." "Where you come from it is customary to boil vegetables until they fall apart. This does not mean," said Samad tersely, "that it is a good idea.