Roddy Doyle

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

“I don't work to any commissions. I do what I want to do.”

“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.”

“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.”

“When I started writing full time I had not long stopped being a teacher and when at last I had a full day to write, I would put music on and wonder to myself - am I allowed to do this? Then I thought: 'I am control of this and no one is telling me what I can do.'”

“I tend to plan as I write. And I want to leave myself open and the character open to keep on going until it seems to be the time to stop.”

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

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

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

“I like naming characters.”

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

“Ulysses could have done with a good editor. 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.”

“I'm going to sound like an old man but at my age, it's lovely doing something that you've never done before.”

“I've been asked why does Ireland produce so many great musicians, and the answer is it doesn't. When you count the great musicians Ireland has given the world in the last 20 years, you can do it on one hand.”

“When I was growing up, the exam system didn't allow you to write fiction, so you never did.”