Roddy Doyle

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

— Roddy Doyle

She's a pot-of-tea-before-I-say-boo-to-you woman. There's always a pile of warm teabags in the sink when I come down, like what a horse…

— Roddy Doyle

I tend to plan as I write. And I want to leave myself open and the character open to keep on going…

— Roddy Doyle

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

— Roddy Doyle

If there is a heaven, Jane Austen is sitting in a small room with Mother Teresa and Princess Diana, listening to Duran…

— Roddy Doyle

“Four generations of women--"I'm a woman," Mary said to herself--heading off on a journey in a car. One of the dead, one…

— Roddy Doyle

Good ideas are often murdered by better ones.

— Roddy Doyle

“I swooned the first time I saw Charlo. I actually did. I didn't faint or fall on the floor but my legs…

— Roddy Doyle

I write short stories when a little idea occurs to me, that I know isn't a part of a novel that will…

— Roddy Doyle

No matter how close to personal experience a story might be, inevitably you are going to get to a part that isn't…

— Roddy Doyle

“I jumped on Sinbad's bottle. Nothing happened. I didn't do it again. Sometimes when nothing happened it was really getting ready to…

— Roddy Doyle

When you grow up on an island, what matters is how you stand to the sea.

— Roddy Doyle

I wouldn't go out of my way to experience the indignity of middle-age just because it might be good meat for a…

— Roddy Doyle

If you are a writer you're at home, which means you're out of touch. You have to make excuses to get out…

— Roddy Doyle

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

— Roddy Doyle

I had to make sure I kept an eye on the real world.

— Roddy Doyle

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

— Roddy Doyle

“I was the ref. I was the ref they didn’t know about. Deaf and dumb. Invisible as a wall. I wanted no…

— Roddy Doyle

I do enjoy Gothic fiction or books about zombies if they are well written and I like vampires.

— Roddy Doyle

“He loved me and he beat me. I loved him and I took it. It's as simple as that, and as stupid…

— Roddy Doyle

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

— Roddy Doyle

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

— Roddy Doyle

It's hard for me to measure them, or to assess my books because I'm so close to them.

— Roddy Doyle

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

— Roddy Doyle

“— It’s gas but, isn’t it? How we get suckered in. Some prick in a white coat says if you eat all…

— Roddy Doyle