Since Belfast, he always sat in a chair facing the door. — Bernard MacLaverty

"A birds-eye view does not see the truth."

"Bitter?" said the barmaid and he nodded. What a strange thing to call a drink. Bitter. Aloes. Sorrow. For something that was supposed to make you feel happy."

"Its a bad day when the biggest thing you catch is a seagull."

"Michael wondered why it was the tragic things that remained with him most vividly."

"Suddenly a police Land Rover with its hee-haw siren blaring swung into the main road behind them with a squeal of tyres. It roared along and overtook them so fast its body tilted at an angle to the chassis. Someone said, "Jesus, theyll sell no ice cream going at that speed."

"What we run here, Brother, is a finishing school for the sons of the Idle Poor." "It finishes them all right."