Roddy Doyle Quotes

If there is a heaven, Jane Austen is sitting in a small room with Mother Teresa and Princess Diana, listening to Duran Duran, forever. If there's a hell, she's standing.

Good ideas are often murdered by better ones.

Do be kind to yourself. Fill pages as quickly as possible; double space, or write on every second line. Regard every new page as a small triumph. Until you get to page 50. Then calm down, and start worrying about the quality. Do feel anxiety - it's the job.

I see people in terms of dialogue and I believe that people are their talk.

To claim that music is more important than oxygen would be trite and sentimental. It would also be true.

You know people are always putting Ulysses in the top 10 books ever written but I doubt that any of those people were really moved by it.

Some of the people who look the most normal are probably the maddest people trying to look normal.

It's a big con job. We have sold the myth of Dublin as a sexy place incredibly well; because it is a dreary little dump most of the time.

The best way to reveal a character is to get them to open their mouths.

No matter how close to personal experience a story might be, inevitably you are going to get to a part that isn't yours and, actually, whether it happened or not becomes irrelevant. It is all about choosing the right words.

When I'm writing I just think there's only the page and me and nobody else.

It was a sign of growing up, when the dark made no more difference to you than the day.

The problem with being Irish... is having 'Riverdance' on your back. It's a burden at times.

Do not place a photograph of your favourite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide.

It's great meeting children because you never know what they will say.

She'd tried her hand at most things, but drew the line at honesty.

Schools don't really allow failure and yet it's part of any endeavour, not just writing.

If you're from Dublin, for example, chances are you live with your family, if you're lucky enough to, right up to the mid-20s. And most of the people I know, when they finally sort of set off on their own, they don't stray all that far.

When I was a kid, if you didn't speak Irish, you really wanted to. And you played Gaelic games and you didn't pay any attention to what was happening in the outside world, because really, the - Ireland was the center of the universe. And I don't think that's the case anymore, although, admittedly, it is the center of the universe.

If you are a writer you're at home, which means you're out of touch. You have to make excuses to get out there and look at how the world is changing.

Sometimes adults seem as though they have cut a chord from being a child.

My novels come from within me; they are things I feel I want to do.

I write short stories when a little idea occurs to me, that I know isn't a part of a novel that will stand by itself and should be concentrated.

I like naming characters.

Most working days I can be at my desk for nine hours a day.