Quoted in Arthur Power, From an Old Waterford House, London n.d., p.63-64; also in Richard Ellmann, James Joyce, 1965 Edn., p.520, citing interview with Arthur Power, Dec. 1953. … Remark to Claud Sykes; quoted in Ellmann, James Joyce, 1965 Edn. p.436.
For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal. … To me an Irish safety pin is more important than an English epic.’
Now, this bell tolling softly for another, says to me: Thou must die. … All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated … As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness. … No man is an island, entire of itself … any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.