Dermot Healy Quotes

I like the idea of stopping mid-sentence, like Graham Greene.

Dermot Healy

I often find poems hand written in old abandoned notebooks.

Dermot Healy

• Hand

Kafka taught me a lot about the normal and the abnormal, and the distance between them. ... He's out there by himself. You get the jump in the feet when you read certain passages by him. That's the mark of truly great writing. It gives you the jump in the feet.

Dermot Healy

• Great
• Writing
• Distance

I write mostly in my office in the shed outside at home, but it can get very cold. I write best on the train, among people. As a writer you spend so much time away from people.

Dermot Healy

• People
• Time
• Home

I know writing is what I do but I still don't see myself as one.

Dermot Healy

• Writing

It is a costly thing living here to fight the erosion. The sea is constantly threatening to cut into the coastline and sweep all this away. Every year we have to haul stones up here to repair the damage and plug the holes. It's a full-time job.

Dermot Healy

• Up
• Time
• Job

When I was 14 or 15, our teacher introduced us to Dickens' 'A Tale of Two Cities.' It was just for entertainment - we read it aloud - and all of a sudden it became a treasure.

Dermot Healy

• Teacher

There isn't any distinction between a reader and a writer - reading is so much a part of it.

Dermot Healy

• Reading

The Bible has entered much of my work as have Latin and Greek mythology and verse.

Dermot Healy

• Work
• Bible
• Latin

I'm always fascinated by etymology.

Dermot Healy

I'm no good at dinner parties. I feel very uneasy at them.

Dermot Healy

• Good

Without the reader there would be no writer.

Dermot Healy

I rang up this publisher and they asked me what I was doing at the time. I told them I was a house-painter, so first of all they had me come round and paint the place. Only later did they consider my work and Banished Misfortune was published.

Dermot Healy

• Up
• Time
• Work