Colm Toibin Quotes
Between the time I was 16 until I was about 20, the books I read were by people like Thomas Mann, James Baldwin, Thom Gunn, Elizabeth Bishop. All gay, of course, although I swear I didn't know that at the time. Yet all of them, it turned out, had had a parent who died during their childhood. Sexuality is nothing compared to that.
Quotes to Explore
-
I love speaking at schools. That's always my favorite because I wish I'd had someone who was like me come speak at my school.
-
I grew up in a village of 12 houses. We had a well and a cow.
-
We've made some good beginnings with the New START Treaty, but a lot more can be done.
-
I am an unrepentant tweetaholic. I use the communications service all day long to discover news, interesting tidbits and, of course, to flack the work of our tech and media news site, Re/code.
-
Notice the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, I have failed three times, and what happens when he says, I am a failure.
-
The idea that modernisation makes for enhanced national power and rapid progress and helps everyone achieve greater happiness has its origins in the astonishing political, economic and military successes of western Europe in the 19th century.
-
My birthday is Feb. 11, and I'm both excited and not excited by it. You'll never be 15 again, and you really, really need to savor every day like it's your last.
-
No person is just one particular emotion.
-
One of my first favorite records was the debut Garbage album, which I heard when I was very young. Shirley Manson is a great female vocalist and performer and I admire her for that.
-
I would prefer to have a more appealing job. If I could still change careers, I would prefer it. This unfortunate art is made for long beards and ugly faces rather than for a relatively well-endowed woman.
-
The poet speaks to all men of that other life of theirs that they have smothered and forgotten.
-
I don't need fame and I don't need power and I don't need wealth. I'm in need of friends, which I have found in abundance.
-
Education can counteract the natural tendency to do the wrong thing, but the inexorable succession of generations requires that the basis for this knowledge be constantly refreshed.
-
There's always a mismatch between small entrepreneurial outfits and large companies, which often don't have the same outlook.
-
I have a lot of growing up to do, or a lot of growing down. I think that's probably more appropriate.
-
Now, they hold the World Cup every year, so it's like any Super Series. It's boring. To me, it's very boring. I think the players will always attend the World Cup. But for the fans, and also for most players, the Olympics and Asian Games will become more important. Nobody will look forward to the World Cup with anticipation.
-
The world expects India to be one of the leaders in solving the problems of politics and economics. India sits at the high table in most major multilateral deliberations. What India says is heard with attention and seriousness.
-
I want to empower and educate and inspire individuals who are giving to give in a way that is more meaningful. The more meaningful our giving is, the more giving we will do.
-
I realised the bohemian life was not for me. I would look around at my friends, living like starving artists, and wonder, 'Where's the art?' They weren't doing anything. And there was so much interesting stuff to do, so much fun to be had... maybe I could even quit renting.
-
We must continue to fight for funding for health technologies so that they can continue to do what they do best - save lives - but also because they confer a real benefit to America's economy.
-
I had a friend where it turned out that she hated my guts, all through our friendship. I thought she was my best friend, and then, in high school, she turned on me and had sordid affairs with all of the people that I'd dated. It was less hurtful because I was in high school, so it was more like, 'What's wrong with you? Gross!'
-
To my real estate agent, Chernobyl is a fixer-upper.
-
Once I've got the first draft down on paper then I do five or six more drafts, the last two of which will be polishing drafts. The ones in between will flesh out the characters and maybe I'll check my research.
-
Between the time I was 16 until I was about 20, the books I read were by people like Thomas Mann, James Baldwin, Thom Gunn, Elizabeth Bishop. All gay, of course, although I swear I didn't know that at the time. Yet all of them, it turned out, had had a parent who died during their childhood. Sexuality is nothing compared to that.
