Schools dont really allow failure and yet its a valid part of any endeavour, not just writing. – Roddy Doyle
No matter how close to personal experience a story might be, inevitably you are going to get to a part that isnt yours and, actually, whether it happened or not becomes irrelevant. It is all about choosing the right words. – Roddy Doyle
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
The urgent consideration of the public safety may undoubtedly authorize the violation of every positive law. How far that or any other consideration may operate to dissolve the natural obligations of humanity and justice, is a doctrine of which I still desire to remain ignorant. – Edward Gibbon