Colm Toibin Quotes
I am violently untidy. My desk is overcrowded. I write my first drafts in longhand in a long notebook using a plastic throwaway fountain pen. Then I work on a word processor using a different desk and a different room.

Quotes to Explore
-
Character, I am sure, lies in the genes.
-
I'm a Canadian. Outside Canada I carry the flag. Canadian nationalism isn't as insidious as American nationalism, though. It's good natured. It's all about maple syrup, not war.
-
I've failed those I care most about and let down the people who elected me to represent them.
-
The atmosphere seems to change once the sun goes down and the race fans get to watch a good show.
-
There's never really been a real hood Christmas movie.
-
Be who you are and be that well.
-
As long as people have been making little people, they've wanted to know how not to.
-
If you're conservative in Hollywood, you're on a list of people who need to be put in their place.
-
I am a just man.
-
In Shakespeare, unique individuals repudiate the stereotypes demanded by the structure of the play: Shylock commands our sympathy, Barnardine refuses to be hanged. Individuals trump the category.
-
Only the other world has substance and reality; only good deeds and holy learning have tangible worth.
-
I've always done things the hard way. I was born like a piece of tangled yarn. The job is trying to untangle it, and I'll probably go on doing it for the rest of my life.
-
I'm very thankful that I can make people happy just by signing my name.
-
Now that I'm gone, I tell you, don't smoke.
-
I just want to show the fans my big smile and play the game that I love.
-
If I can save one kid's life, for me, it's absolutely worth it.
-
I was always a writer – working on campaigns was never a profession for me. It was something I did on the side, really, so the trajectory hasn't been a political operative who likes to dabble in writing and finds himself into stumbling on film and TV – that was always my goal.
-
It's hard finding people you trust or who aren't going to take your money. Everyone wants to get a piece of whatever you're doing. It's a nightmare.
-
To me, it's never about the trick. I don't care about how something works. I care about how people feel when they watch it. You know, that - that connection - that emotional connection is true magic.
-
The war changed everybody's attitude. We became international almost overnight.
-
The first thing I look at is, 'Is the entrepreneur going after really big problems, to the extent that it feels scary when they talk about it?' You wonder if the idea is possible. I have seen that a lot of times, people go after small problems, and that's a sign that they are not confident.
-
I think music has gone through a period of something very severe, rather radical, rather the way painting did with cubism.
-
You always want to come back with an image that's interesting visually, and you hope to get something from the person you photograph that's different than other images you know of these people.
-
I am violently untidy. My desk is overcrowded. I write my first drafts in longhand in a long notebook using a plastic throwaway fountain pen. Then I work on a word processor using a different desk and a different room.