Quotes from Hugh Leonard

It's a natural thing for people to say, you know, Who's in this book? I find myself get ting a little defensive. People come along and I'm waiting for that first question.

I've always enjoyed a woman's company more than men's. They're usually better looking.

I've always believed in survival.

Gossip is more popular than literature.

My life is every moment of my life. It is not a culmination of the past.

There is only one immutable law in life - in a gentleman's toilet, incoming traffic has the right of way.

I'm a much nicer person since my wife died. I found out what pain is, so on that level I'm much nicer.

The problem with Ireland is that it's a country full of genius, but with absolutely no talent.

In life there exist two classes: first class and no class.

We are all the foolishness and all the crimes we did. We're also all the kindnesses we did. I hate to think of life as if we understood time. We don't understand time.

A thing well done is worth doing.

I went through life like an idiot for a great deal of the time, saying there's nothing I would change. That was a very arrogant thing to say. There's a lot I would change. There are people I would have steered clear of.

As somebody once said, we're not punished for our sins, we're punished by them.

I think with every writer there are two people there.

I came down to the living room one day and my wife was standing in the living room. It wasn't an illusion. I saw her out of the corner of my eye. The moment I saw her, she vanished.

We were married for almost 45 years. We fought all the time, it wasn't a great love or anything, it wasn't a great, all-consuming passion. She was just there. A lot of people were startled because we didn't seem devoted but we were.

I feel like the writer observing the grief, but it is difficult to be detached from it.

My grandmother made dying her life's work.

I'm a writer, and what I do is write. I wasn't able to do anything else.

My father I liked, but it was only after his death that I got to know him by writing the play.

My life is every moment of my life. It is not a culmination of the past.

I went through life like an idiot for a great deal of the time, saying there's nothing I would change. That was a very arrogant thing to say. There's a lot I would change. There are people I would have steered clear of.

My mother was passionate. She was stubborn, the dominant one in the family. She dominated my father.

Arnold Bennett was a writer I admired. He was actually taking notes at his father's deathbed.