“We all leave one another. We die, we change - it's mostly change - we outgrow our best friends; but even if I do leave you, I will have passed on to you something of myself; you will be a different person because of knowing me; it's inescapable...” ― Edna O'Brien, Girl with Green Eyes

“When anyone asks me about the Irish character, I say look at the trees. Maimed, stark and misshapen, but ferociously tenacious.”

― Edna O'Brien

“We all leave one another. We die, we change - it's mostly change - we outgrow our best friends; but even if I do leave you, I will have passed on to you something of myself; you will be a different person because of knowing me; it's inescapable...”
― Edna O'Brien, Girl with Green Eyes

“She said the reason that love is so painful is that it always amounts to two people wanting more than two people can give.”
― Edna O'Brien, Saints and Sinners: Stories

“Writers are always anxious, always on the run--from the telephone, from responsibilities, from the distractions of the world.”
― Edna O'Brien