“My desk was a present from Margaret Atwood.After Zen and the Art of Uterus Maintenancesold its first million, she said I needed a placeto write, other than the local bus-shelter.”

“Craiceann a shníonngo gléineach thar do ghéagamar bhainne á dháil as crúiscíníam lóinis tread gabhar ag gabháil thar chnocáindo chuid gruaige cnocáin ar a bhfuil faillte ardais dhá ghleann atá domhain.(Leaba Shíoda)”

“The world is wonderful, she said. All its little things. It is wonderful.”

“They're fathers second, Jimmy said. They're men first.”

“But you know, there's one simple thing I see absolutely clearly, now that I am so very old.I looked at her. The Albert Einstein hairstyle, and the bright black eyes and the sharp nose. That pallor on her face.She put her small hand on mine.The world is wonderful, she said. All its little things. It is wonderful.”

“I did believe, from my experience of life and of looking at the world, that men hated women.”

“Let me just say that I am not often lonely in country places. In cities I am, like the writers of the letters. Nature doesn't break your heart: other people do. Yet, we cannot live apart from each other in bowers feeding on nectar. We're in this together, this getting through our lives, as the fact that we are word-users shows.”