Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

1) “‘Always there’s one that has to pull the short straw.'” – Eileen

2) “But it cut him, all the same, to see one of his own so upset by the sight of what other children craved and he could not help but wonder if she’d be brave enough or able for what the world had in store.”

3) “Always it was the same. Always they carried mechanically on without pause, to the next job at hand.“

4) “‘Do you not go back over things, Eileen? Or worry? I sometimes wish I had your mind.'” – Furlong

5) “‘If you want to get on in life, there’s things you have to ignore, so you can keep on.'” – Eileen

6) “‘Isn’t it a good job Mrs Wilson didn’t share your ideas? Where would my mother have gone? Where would I be now?'” – Furlong

7) “‘Where there’s muck, there’s luck.'” – Mother

8) “‘Hasn’t everyone to be born somewhere? Sure wasn’t Jesus born in Bethlehem.'” – Furlong

9) “Why could he not relax and enjoy them like other men who took a pint or two after Mass before falling asleep at the fire with the newspaper, having eaten a plate of dinner?”

10) “Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror?”