“In New York, with Prohibition in full swing, he thought he had died and gone o hell for his sins. Then he discovered speakeasies and he rejoiced.”

“I'm in New York, land of the free and home of the brave, but I'm supposed to behave as if I were in Limerick at all times.”

“I asked my dad what afflicted meant and he said 'Sickness son, and things that don't fit.”

“I say, Billy, what’s the use in playing croquet when you’re doomed?He says, Frankie, what’s the use of not playing croquet when you’re doomed?”

“He says, you have to study and learn so that you can make up your own mind about history and everything else but you can’t make up an empty mind. Stock your mind, stock your mind. You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.”

“The master says it's a glorious thing to die for the Faith and Dad says it's a glorious thing to die for Ireland and I wonder if there's anyone in the world who would like us to live. My brothers are dead and my sister is dead and I wonder if they died for Ireland or the Faith. Dad says they were too young to die for anything. Mam says it was disease and starvation and him never having a job. Dad says, Och, Angela, puts on his cap and goes for a long walk”

“After a full belly all is poetry.”