“I reckon if I can't spend the day sleeping, the next best thing is to spend it reading and drinking.”

“I like reading in a pub rather than a library or study, as it's generally much easier to get a drink.”

“But once you cross the Shannon - even though geographically you have only come a short distance - different rules of time apply, and most people still understand the crucial secret of human happiness: that it's better to do a few things slowly, than a lot of things fast.”

“Just remember, it's an easy place to be at home in, Ireland. I think the people are very skilled at relating. I notice, watching the different nationalities on the mountain, the fluidity of interaction the Irish people have with the visitors, and with each other. It's a skill that's less developed in other nationalities, and it's so instinctive it doesn't even look like a skill.”

“If you've had the right kind of education, it's amazing how many things you can find to feel guilty about.”

“Life is brief and to have to spend every day of it doing what somebody else wants you to do is not the way to live it.”

“I was tired in ways that had nothing to do with sleep. It occurred to me, sitting in the car with her, that I had been trying to hold too many things together that were meant to fall apart.”