I read a little bit of nonfiction and a lot of poetry. I think of poetry as my shot of whiskey when I don't have time to savor a whole bottle of wine. -Alice McDermott Poetry
What interests me is whatever it is that allows the heart to continue to yearn for something the intelligence knows is impossible to have: a lost love, a shelter from life's blows, the return of a time past, even a connection to the dead. -Alice McDermott Intelligence
In grammar school I read 'Act One' by Moss Hart, and being a playwright struck me as the most magical and romantic career anyone could have... But I never did write a play. -Alice McDermott Romantic
Right away I think of two books - 'Wuthering Heights' and 'Rebecca' - and of just sinking into them as a young reader. I think they must have appealed not just to my romantic adolescent soul, but I suppose there's also an appealing darkness in both of them. -Alice McDermott Romantic
I believed in fictional characters as if they were a part of real life. Poetry was important, too. My parents had memorized poems from their days attending school in New York City and loved reciting them. We all enjoyed listening to these poems and to music as well. -Alice McDermott Poetry
I like that original romance of having a pen and a legal pad and going anywhere in the world and being able to write a novel with just those two things. -Alice McDermott Legal
The language of the Catholic Church - the liturgy, the prayer, the gospels - was in many ways my first poetry. -Alice McDermott Poetry
