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.
-
I struggle with deciding when to answer or ignore the constant speculation about my private life, because I feel like that doesn't belong to anybody but me.
-
Weightlessness was unbelievable. It's physical euphoria: Nothing about you has any weight. You don't realize that you are weighed down all the time by yourself, and your organs, and your head. Your arms weigh down your shoulders. In space simulation, you get to fly like Superman! You're hanging in the air! It's the coolest thing.
-
One of the good things about losing your feet is I can wear all the pointy shoes I want, and it doesn't hurt anymore. I can wear shoes just for fashion now.
-
The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar. It was natural that, bereft and desperate as I was, in the throes of unremitting suffering. I should turn to God
-
My clients were always poor folks, working folks, people who were in trouble and couldn't afford to pay a whole lot. I found it very difficult to say no to somebody who needed help, so most of my work turned out to be pro bono. It didn't start out that way, but it turned out that way because I never got paid.
-
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.
