Roddy Doyle Quotes

40 quotes in 501 categories

• 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…
• The best way to reveal a character is to get them to open their mouths.
• Schools don't really allow failure and yet it's part of any endeavour, not just writing.
• Good ideas are often murdered by better ones.
• I do enjoy Gothic fiction or books about zombies if they are well written and I like vampires.
• I don't work to any commissions. I do what I want to 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…
• I wouldn't go out of my way to experience the indignity of middle-age just because it might be good meat for a story.
• 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…
• 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'm not recognised that much. I'm just a bald man in glasses and there's a rash of them in Dublin. It'd be different if I…
• The Irish are the niggers of Europe, lads.
• 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…
• 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…
• When I'm writing I just think there's only the page and me and nobody else.
• 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 a big con job. We have sold the myth of Dublin as a sexy place incredibly well; because it is a dreary little dump…
• I see people in terms of dialogue and I believe that people are their talk.
• 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…
• 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…

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