Quotes by Anne Enright

About Anne Enright:

Anne Teresa Enright is an Irish author. She has published novels, short stories, essays, and one non-fiction book. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, her novel The Gathering won the 2007 Man Booker Prize. She has also won the 1991 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the 2001 Encore Award and the 2008 Irish Novel of the Year.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A drinker does not exist. Whatever they say, it is just the drink talking

Anne Enright

Laughter is a powerful weapon for it carries the light. To laugh is to defy the darkness.

Anne Enright

Her past is behind her, her future is of little concern. She moves towards the grave, at her own speed.

Anne Enright

I am a trembling mess from hip to knee. There is a terrible heat, a looseness in my innards that makes me want to dig my fists between my thighs. It is a confusing feeling - somewhere between diarrhoea and sex - this grief that is almost genital.

Anne Enright

Yes you're getting your tattoo." I threw my arms around Dad's neck. "Thank you!" "Hey," Mom said. "I'm the one who had to persuade him it wasn't turning his little girl into a streetwalker." "I never said that," Dad said. "No?" I said. "Cool. Cause I...

Anne Enright

This is so cool," I said loudly as Dad walked away. "Have you met the tattoo artist? Is he hot?" "He's a she," Mom said. "Is she hot? Cause I'm still young, you know. My sexual identity isnt fully formed." "Your father can't hear you anymore, Maya." ...

Anne Enright

Another night then,' Mom said. 'Maybe on the weekend we can have a barbecue and invite your sister.' 'Or,' I said turning to Rafe, 'if you want to skip the whole awkward meet-the-family social event you could just submit your life story including you...

Anne Enright

Chekhov. Well he was a bit of a lad. He had at least two dozen relationships, possibly three; some of them long term; most of the woman wanted to marry him and throughout that time he was still a constant frequenter of brothels. ‘ ‘Mercy. It’s ...

Anne Enright

He never wanted children.’ Jessica said. ‘When we married he never mentioned them. I told him Poppy was an accident but she wasn't. I came off the pill. I came off the pill just to see if I could get pregnant and four weeks later l was. I was as ...

Anne Enright

I want you to have big dreams, big goals. I want you to strive to achieve them. But I don't want to see you beating yourself up every time you make a mistake.

Anne Enright

Here we go again. Always a few drinks, but sometimes even sober, we play the unhappiness game; endlessly round and round. Ding dong. Tighter and tighter. On and on. Push me pull you. Come here and i'll tell you how much i hate you. Hang on a minute w...

Anne Enright

He had beautiful manners. Which, if you ask me, was mostly a question of saying nothing, to anyone, ever.

Anne Enright

It was completely fifth garde and completely silly and I loved it, because he wasn't afraid to be silly. It was like kissing him first - I could do whatever I wanted and not have to worry what he'd think of me.

Anne Enright

Strength without compassion is soulless and cruel. Weakness, too, has its place, for it brings understanding.

Anne Enright

There's no such thing as a life that is not normal, or, there's no such thing as a life that is not abnormal. We all have amazing lives; we all have very dull lives.

Anne Enright

I've heard people, usually writers, say that no one wrote a great book after winning the Booker, but I honestly did not feel any big pressure. 'The Gathering' did hang over me in that it was darker than I thought at the time.

Anne Enright

If your life just falls apart early on, you can put it together again. It's the people who are always on the brink of crisis who don't hit bottom who are in trouble.

Anne Enright

It is very hard to trace the effect of words on a life.

Anne Enright

I love the characters not knowing everything and the reader knowing more than them. There's more mischief in that and more room for seriousness, too.

Anne Enright

For 10 or 11 years, I had my kids, I wrote four or five books, and I was working all the damn time.

Anne Enright

Author Bio

  • NameAnne Enright
  • DescriptionIrish writer
  • BornOctober 11, 1962
  • CountryIreland
  • ProfessionWriter; Novelist; Essayist
  • WorksThe Gathering