"Operating behind the state provides oligarchs with a veneer of legitimacy."

"Tears and laughter, they are so much Gaelic to me."

"We can never legitimately cut loose from our archetypal foundations unless we are prepared to pay the price of a neurosis, any more than we can rid ourselves of our body and its organs without committ…"

"If you were not to be its victim, this book and body would amuse you with its arrogance. It would make you laugh. Because you were not its victim, you could feel no pain of betrayal."

"I don’t mind there being some medievalists around for ornamental purposes, but there is no reason for the State to pay for them."