Molly Bloom

"Met him pikehoses she called it till I told her about the transmigration. O rocks!" (Lestrygonians) "Swish and soft flop her stays made on the bed. Always warm from her. Always liked to let herself out. Sitting there after till near two, taking out her hairpins." (Lestrygonians)

Irish (and English) history

"Another victory like that and we are done for." (Nestor) "-- I have rebel blood in me too, Mr Deasy said. On the spindle side. But I am descended from sir John Blackwood who voted for the union. We are all Irish, all kings' sons. -- Alas, Stephen said." (Nestor) "-- History, Stephen said, is …

Religion

"The proud potent titles clanged over Stephen's memory the triumph of their brazen bells: et unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam: the slow growth and change of rite and dogma like his own rare thoughts, a chemistry of stars. Symbol of the apostles in the mass for pope Marcellus, the voices blended, singing alone loud …

Birth and death

"In a dream, silently, she had come to him, her wasted body within its loose graveclothes giving off an odour of wax and rosewood, her breath bent over him with mute secret words, a faint odour of wetted ashes." (Telemachus) "Her glazing eyes, staring out of death, to shake and bend my soul. On me …

Astronomy

"...darkness shining in the brightness, delta of Cassiopeia, worlds." (Proteus) "...in violet night walking beneath a reign of uncouth stars." (Proteus) "A star, a daystar, a firedrake rose at his birth. It shone by day in the heavens alone, brighter than Venus in the night, and by night it shone over delta in Cassiopeia, the …

Literature, poetry

"Maud Gonne's letter about taking them off O'Connell street at night: disgrace to our Irish capital." (Lotus eaters) "...waters of oblivion" (Lotus eaters) "Gravediggers in Hamlet. Shows the profound knowledge of the human heart." (Hades) "-- The moon, professor MacHugh said. He forgot Hamlet." (Aeolus) "In mourning for Sallust, Mulligan says." (Aeolus) "- Lay on, …

Women

"Girl in Eustace street hallway. Monday was it settling her garter. Her friend covering the display of. Esprit de corps. Well, what are you gaping at?" Lotus eaters) "Out of her clothes somewhere: pinned together. Queer the number of pins they always have. No roses without thorns." (Lotus eaters) "Nice discreet place to be next …

Horses

"Horn of a bull, hoof of a horse, smile of a Saxon." (Telemachus) "Framed around the walls images of vanished horses stood in homage, their meek heads poised in air: lord Hastings' Repulse, the duke of Westminster's Shotover, the duke of Beaufort's Ceylon, prix de Paris, 1866. Elfin riders sat them, watchful of a sign. …

Food and drinks

"A cored apple, filled with brown sugar, roasting for her at the hob on a dark autumn evening." (Telemachus) "-- If we could only live on good food like that, he said to her somewhat loudly, we wouldn't have the country full of rotten teeth and rotten guts. Living in a bogswamp, eating cheap food …

Defecation and pee

"A paper. He liked to read at stool. Hope no ape comes knocking just as I'm." (Calypso) "...he allowed his bowels to ease themselves quietly as he read, reading still patiently, that slight constipation of yesterday quite gone." (Calypso) "He read on, seated calm above his own rising smell. Neat certainly. Matcham often thinks of …