“Fionn went [...] to carve a name for himself that will live while Time has an ear and knows an Irishman”

“Violet carved her hate into her flesh one name at a time.”

“The Irishman sustains himself during brief periods of joy by the knowledge that tragedy is just around the corner.”

“There are books so alive that you're always afraid that while you weren't reading, the book has gone and changed, has shifted like a river; while you went on living, it went on living too, and like a river moved on and moved away. No one has stepped twice into the same river. But did anyone ever step twice into the same book?”

“A real Irishman will give everything of himself--except that kernel of his soul which makes him a mystery to other peoples.”

“Mosquito [...] had asked Ear to marry him, whereupon Ear fell on the floor in uncontrollable laughter. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked. "You are already a skeleton." Mosquito went away humiliated, and any time he passed her way he told Ear that he was still alive.”