"one of the things about writing is that each book is a beginning. Each book is another hurdle up the ladder or up the…"

"I waked quickly and sat up in bed abruptly. It is only when I am anxious that I awaken easily, and for a minute I cou…"

"We all leave one another. We die, we change - it's mostly change - we outgrow our best friends; but even if I do leav…"

"Oh, God, who does not exist, you hate women, otherwise you'd have made them different. And Jesus, who snubbed your mo…"

"All my life I had feared imprisonment, the nun's cell, the hospital bed, the places where one faced the self without …"

"[On the banning of (her then) four novels in Ireland] I believe that mental disturbance by literature is a healthy an…"

"It is increasingly clear that the fate of the universe will come to depend more and more on individuals as the bungli…"

"Never forget this moment, the hum of the bee, the saffron threads of the flower, the drawn blinds, nature's assiduous…"

"She said the reason that love is so painful is that it always amounts to two people wanting more than two people can …"

"When we're young, we leave home and we think we're leaving behind us our roots. And we do leave them behind for a tim…"