“If the Holy Communion touched my teeth, I thought that was a mortal sin”

“When something has been perfect there is a tendency to try hard to repeat it.”

“In a way winter is the real spring the time when the inner things happen the resurge of nature.”

“When anyone asks me about the Irish character, I say look at the trees. Maimed, stark and misshapen, but ferociously tenacious.”

“Writers are always anxious, always on the run--from the telephone, from responsibilities, from the distractions of the world.”

“Darkness is drawn to light, but light does not know it; light must absorb the darkness and therefore meet its own extinguishment.”

“In our deepest moments we say the most inadequate things.”

“If the Holy Communion touched my teeth, I thought that was a mortal sin”

“I was lonelier than I should be, for a woman in love, or half in love.”

“The words ran away with me.”

“Love . . . is like nature, but in reverse; first it fruits, then it flowers, then it seems to wither, then it goes deep, deep down into its burrow, where no one sees it, where it is lost from sight, and ultimately people die with that secret buried inside their souls.”