At Swim-Two-Birds Quotes
"One beginning and one ending for a book was a thing I did not agree with."
"A good book may have three openings entirely dissimilar and inter-related only in the prescience of the author."
"His puppetlike figures do not suffer as individuals in any ordinary sense; they suffer for everyone in some general amusement park of the soul while confronting their unexpected fates."
"In O’Brien’s Hell, guilt is a moral implication, not a matter of psychological anguish, and intimidation is the major terror, not humiliation."
"A contemplative life has always been suitable to my disposition."
"The entire corpus of existing literature should be regarded as a limbo from which discerning authors could draw their characters as required, creating only when they failed to find a suitable existing puppet."
"The modern novel should be largely a work of reference."
"Most authors spend their time saying what has been said before – usually said much better."
"I am an Ulsterman, a Connachtman, a Greek, I am Cuchulainn, I am Patrick."
"I am my own father and my son. I am every hero from the crack of time."
"When life looks black as the hour of night – A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN."
"Moderation in all things, that is the trick that won the war."
"There are wiser methods to be taken in such Cases, as a small journey and a Confident. And afterwards, such a pious and good life as may redress such an heavy misfortune."
"We must invert our conception of repose and activity."
"The bee is small among flying things, but her fruit hath the chiefest sweetness."
"All colours except green he regarded as symbols of evil."
"I'm not ashamed to admit that I love my bed."
"Let not the naming of God be usual in thy mouth, and meddle not with the names of saints."
"A man that sweareth much shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house."
"My uncle had assumed a flushed appearance."
"Marriage, is not the End of it, in a great Meafure, loft nowadays?"
"The world is wonderful all the same, everybody has a different face and a separate way of talking."
"Life is very bare here, piteous Christ it is cheerless."
"It is thus that Finn spends the day: a third of the day watching the boys; a third of the day drinking sack; and a third of the day in the calm sorcery of chess."
"The voice was the first, Furriskey was saying. The human voice. The voice was Number One. Anything that came after was only an imitation of the voice."
"I personally maintain my watch on the tops of mountains."
"The voice was number one, I don’t deny that, but look at the masterpieces of musical art you have on the fiddle!"
"Put your finger in a basin of water. What do you feel? Next to nothing. But put your finger in the fire!"
"By virtue of enlightenment, culture, and a spirit of give-and-take, the matter was amicably settled to the satisfaction of all parties."
"A sugar-bowl containing sugar was passed deftly from hand to hand in the pause."
"It’s a poor man that doesn’t sing once in a while, anyway."
"It’s not everyone can enjoy it, said Furriskey. Every man to his taste."
"That’s a quare story certainly, said Shanahan."
"I’m telling you, now, it’s a different story. A very very different story, Mr Lamont."
"Please God we’ll all die in our beds, said Mrs Furriskey."
"A judge acting as a juryman is bad enough, but to act also as a witness, that is most irregular."
"Your ill-conditioned behaviour will avail you nothing."
"If the gold rust, what shall the iron do?"
"For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; for want of a horse the rider was lost."
"Being happy is a very personal thing—and it really has nothing to do with anyone else."
"A good question is very hard to answer. The better the question the harder the answer."
"Answers do not matter so much as questions."
"Evil is even, truth is an odd number and death is a full stop."
"The more one studies the problem, the more fascinated one becomes."
"Numbers, however, will account for a great proportion of unbalanced and suffering humanity."
"One man will think he has a glass bottom and will fear to sit in case of breakage."