“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)”

“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.”

“Do the thing that's less passive. Do the active thing. There's more of the human in that.”

“...friendship is something you do.”

“An cinniúnt, is dócha: féach an féileacán úd thall atá ag foluain os cionn mo choinnle. Ní fada go loiscfear a sciatháin mhaiseacha: cá bhfios dúinne nach bhfuil a fhios sin aige, freisin?”

“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.”

“I tried not to think about it. But every so often it would burst out of me - why did he do something so unkind? What had I done to deserve it? I did believe, from my experience of life and of looking at the world, that men hated women. But there were all kinds of exceptions, and I'd have bet everything that this man didn't hate me, this woman.”