Women are wiser than men because they know less and understand more. Ireland is not a geographical fragment, but a nation. The artist, like the God of the creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails. There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. The Augustinian doctrine of the damnation of unbaptized infants and the Calvinistic doctrine of reprobation . . .
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
The man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery. When anyone asks me about the Irish character, I say look at the trees. Maimed, stark and misshapen, but ferociously tenacious. Some are born mad.