“He was shivering like a Wicklow sheepdog in a snowy yard, though the weather was officially 'clement'.The first layer of clothing was his jacket, the second his shirt, the third his long-johns, the fourth his share of lice, the fifth his share of fear.”

“How is that for some people drinking is a short-term loan on the spirit, but for others a heavy mortgage on the soul?”

“The thing itself, the first thing, will never do us alone, we must be elaborating, improving, poeticising.”

“The real comfort is that the history of the world contains so much grief that my small griefs are edged out, and are only cinders at the borders of the fire. I am saying this again because I want it to be true.”

“Four men killed that day. The phrase sat up in Willie's head like a rat and made a nest for itself there”

“Clinton and his cigar was so much greater a man than Bush and his rifle.”

“There is such solace in the mere sight of water. It clothes us delicately in its blowing salt and scent, gossamer items that medicate the poor soul”

“I knew immediately something was terribly wrong, but you can know that and not allow the thought in your head, at the front of your head. It dances around at the back, where it can't be controlled. But the front of the head is where the pain begins.”

“Because it strikes me there is something greater than judgement. I think it is called mercy.”

“I am dwelling on things I love, even if a measure of tragedy is stitched into everything, if you follow the thread long enough”

“For I did not want him to see, or to question me, for here contains already secrets, and my secrets are my fortune and my sanity.”