“Tattooists are the new priests for the fucked-up and the thrown away. They speak the language of symbol, and administer penance in tiny metallic lashes.”

“The whole island is spotted with derelict cottages and abandoned churches like this one. They sit in pastures as invisible to the Irish as a mother is to a teenage girl.”

“Beliefs are what you know without choosing to. Just believe.”

“But he’s genuine twenty-first-century and only faking patience.”

“You’ll have to excuse Harry. He has what I call ‘chauffeured child syndrome.’ ” “He’s been driven all his life?” “That is correct. He has no drive of his own at all.”

“I meet the answering machine’s small, steady stare. “What do you do when God tells you no?” I ask. But it doesn’t answer me, so I undress for bed”

“New York is to the nation what the white church spire is to the village - the visible symbol of aspiration and faith, the white plume saying the way is up”