Colm Toibin Quotes
Three of my novels and a good number of my short stories are told from the point of view of men. I was brought up in a house of women.
Quotes to Explore
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Let's judge a man on what he's done.
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So I think that our foreign policy, the president's strong and principled leadership when it comes to the war against terror and foreign policy is going to be an asset.
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I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing.
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While criticism of Israel is legitimate and justifiable, it cannot be an excuse - in any way, shape or form - for anti-Semitism.
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It may be a cold, clammy thing to say, but those that treat friendship the same as any other selfishness seem to get the most out of it.
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Let us have peace.
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The advice I would give to someone is to not take anyone's advice.
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I had to quit ballet because it felt like a part of me was dying inside.
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When you look at someone good like J.J. Abrams who gives you the spectacle and great action set pieces but also gives you character and great story and plotting and narrative, I think it's my job - and my intention - to do both.
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There is no more respected or influential forum in the field of journalism than the New York Times. I look forward, with great anticipation, to contributing to its op-ed page.
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The prayers of cowards fortune spurns.
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I had what AA calls 'a convincer' – which made me realize that I couldn't do it any more. I went out drinking for about 70 hours here in London. At the end I knew I was done.
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If we do a little bit of insight into history, how many times have there been people doing hate discourse, blaming everything on a certain group of people. That really is the genesis of genocide, where it kind of sparks.
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There is no better high than discovery.
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In the South, we drink the Bible with our mother's milk.
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I loved 'Dirty Sexy Money.' That didn't have a long enough shelf life. I would've liked to explore that character and play with that cast longer. That was a lot of fun to shoot.
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Some of my books sort of have a provocative take. Sometimes you find interesting things about characters that show they weren't necessarily the way people usually see them. It can make for lively conversations, but that's great. Spark a little controversy, get people to think about it. That's what it's all about.
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I had never really felt settled in Brooklyn. I think it had to do with growing up in New Jersey and being someone who her whole life wanted to live in the city, and the city meant Manhattan.
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I tell my students, it's not difficult to identify with somebody like yourself, somebody next door who looks like you. What's more difficult is to identify with someone you don't see, who's very far away, who's a different color, who eats a different kind of food. When you begin to do that then literature is really performing its wonders.
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To some people, I am kind of a Merlin who takes lots of crazy chances, but rarely makes mistakes. I've made some bad ones, but fortunately, the successes have come along fast enough to cover up the mistakes. When you go to bat as many times as I do, and continually improve upon your mistakes, you're bound to get a good average.
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You're on your own in college, but you get sheltered a little bit more with the coaching staff and everything.
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Thanksgiving was always a favorite holiday for me. The preparation was fun! My grandma and I would walk to the butcher on Jamaica Avenue in Queens, order the bird, and buy all the fixings at the market.
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Three of my novels and a good number of my short stories are told from the point of view of men. I was brought up in a house of women.
