"Talking about my personal life onstage, I've realized I'm not one of those comics who can do that. I can allude to it but I don't want to be a confessional performer..."

“One must keep a few smiles aside to laugh at oneself on joyless days.”

“I loved the full heat of being drunk, like I was made of melting chocolate and spreading in all directions.”

Source : Leslie Jamison (2010). “The Gin Closet”, p.52, Simon and Schuster

“I know it's not the most important thing for me to win the most Grand Slams and be remembered in this world. I certainly don't have to win little tournaments here, there and everywhere, I don't have to win at all. Although I do want to.”

“But while Ireland is not free I remain a rebel, unconverted and unconvertible. There is no word strong enough for it. I am pledged as a rebel, an unconvertible rebel, to the one thing - a free and independent Republic.”

“Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.”

Source : Maggie Kuhn, Christina Long, Laura Quinn (1991). “No stone unturned: the life and times of Maggie Kuhn”

“Every day that we allow ourselves to take things for granted, every day that we allow some little physical infirmity or worldly worry to come between us and our obstinate, indignant, defiant exultation, we are weakening our genius for life.”

Source : "The Meaning of Culture". Book by John Cowper Powys, p. 134, 1929.

“When I lived in rural Oxfordshire, I was walking home across a field when I stroked a cow. The damn thing butted me in the orchestras.”

“When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognised. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before.”