Roddy Doyle Quotes

• I said one Hail Mary and four Our Fathers, because I preferred the Our Father to the Hail Mary and it was longer and better.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

• ‘A song belongs to no man,’ said Joey The Lips. ‘The Lord holds copyright on all songs.’ ‘Me arse,’ said Outspan.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

• The Irish are the niggers of Europe… An’ Dubliners are the niggers of Ireland… An’ the northside Dubliners are the niggers o’ Dublin—Say it loud. I’m black and I’m proud.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

• It was a sign of growing up, when the dark made no more difference to you than the day.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Growing Up, Difference

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

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Sea, Matters

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

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Writing, Nobody

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

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Fiction, Growing

• 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 to what was happening in the outside world, because really, Ireland was the center of the universe. And I don’t think that’s the case anymore. Although, admittedly, it is the center of the universe.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Attention, Universe

• 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.’

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Stopped, Allowed

• The problem with being Irish… is having ‘Riverdance’ on your back. It’s a burden at times.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Burden, Having

• Sometimes adults seem as though they have cut a chord from being a child.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Children

  Tags in Chord

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

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Failure

  Tags in Endeavour, Valid

• No matter how close to personal experience a story might be, inevitably you are going to get to a part that isn’t yours and, actually, whether it happened or not becomes irrelevant. It is all about choosing the right words.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Experience

  Tags in Irrelevant, Matter

• My parents were sixty years married.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Wedding

  Tags in Parents, Married

• My novels come from within me; they are things I feel I want to do.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Novels, Within

• Most working days I can be at my desk for nine hours a day.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Work

  Tags in Hours, Nine

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

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Measure, Books

• It’s great meeting children because you never know what they will say.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Children

• 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.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Family

  Tags in Live

• 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.

  Roddy Doyle

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Home, Means

Roddy Doyle (35)

Birth:	8th May, 1958
Nationality:	Irish
Profession:	Dramatist, Novelist, Screenwriter

About

Doyle is the author of nine adult novels, seven books for children, seven plays and screenplays, and dozens of short stories. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991.

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Today's Anniversary - 15th January

Births

• 1970 - Will Oldham
• 1622 - Moliere
• 1842 - Mary MacKillop
• 1915 - Alan Lomax
• 1971 - Regina King

Deaths

• 2005 - Victoria De Los Angeles
• 2004 - Olivia Goldsmith
• 1947 - Victor Robinson
• 1948 - Josephus Daniels
• 1987 - Ray Bolger