Writers really live in the mind and in hotels of the soul. - Edna O'Brien

[On the banning of (her then) four novels in Ireland] I believe that mental disturbance by literature is a healthy and invigorating thing. We have plenty of comfortable and easy prose all around us, but it's by abrasion that people's prejudices are aroused.

It is increasingly clear that the fate of the universe will come to depend more and more on individuals as the bungling of bureaucracy permeates every corner of our existence.

I don't think I have ever learned the game of men and women. To this day I regret the fact that it's like a dance I couldn't learn.