“In Ireland, novels and plays still have a strange force. The writing o...” — Colm Toibin Quote

In Ireland, novels and plays still have a strange force. The writing of fiction and the creation of theatrical images can affect life there more powerfully and stealthily than speeches, or even legislation. Imagined worlds can lodge deeply in the private sphere, dislodging much else, especially when the public sphere is fragile.

I think that was one of the things that happened, especially in Ireland, that you left in order to improve yourself, and you couldn't write home and tell people, 'Look, I'm really lonely,' because you'd realize how much those letters were going to matter, that you needed to put good news or uplifting news into them.

I don't think we have a right to enjoy our neuroses; in fact, I believe that we have a duty not to. But we cannot walk away from ourselves. Who else is there to become?

Three of my novels and a good number of my short stories are told from the point of view of men. I was brought up in a house of women.

It's actually a pretty basic concept: when businesses feel secure and confident, they are more likely to grow, hire, and invest. Conversely, when the economy is unstable, businesses often become much more risk averse, and in many cases, they're forced to make undesirable cuts that affect their bottom line.

Barriers today are largely class-based - income, networks, education. And those affect many white people as well.

I work too hard to let something affect me that's already happened.

As the 109th Congress continues to debate legislation that will affect the lives of immigrants, it is important for us to remember that we are a nation of immigrants.