Brian Friel
I had grandparents who were native Irish speakers, and also, two of the four grandparents were illiterate.
I know now why I stopped writing short stories. It was at the point when I recognised how difficult they were.
I was a member of the Nationalist Party for several years. I don't remember how long. Those were very dreary days, because the Nationalist Party... it's hard to describe what it was. I suppose it held on to some kind of little faith, you know? It wasn't even sure what the faith was, and it was a very despised enterprise by everybody.
It is not the literal past, the 'facts' of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language.Collection: Past
To remember everything is a form of madness.Collection: Remembers Everything
The Troubles are a pigmentation in our lives here, a constant irritation that detracts from real life. But life has to do with something else as well, and it's the other things which are the more permanent and real.Collection: Real
Confusion is not an ignoble conditionCollection: Confusion
People with a culture of poverty suffer much less from repression than we of the middle class suffer and indeed, if I may make the suggestion with due qualification, they often have a hell of a lot more fun than we have.Collection: Fun
Even if I did speak Irish, I’d always be considered an outsider here, wouldn’t I? I may learn the password but the language of the tribe will always elude me, won’t it? The private core will always be ...hermetic, won’t it?Collection: May