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
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Character, I am sure, lies in the genes.
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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.
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I've failed those I care most about and let down the people who elected me to represent them.
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The atmosphere seems to change once the sun goes down and the race fans get to watch a good show.
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There's never really been a real hood Christmas movie.
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As long as people have been making little people, they've wanted to know how not to.
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If you're conservative in Hollywood, you're on a list of people who need to be put in their place.
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I am a just man.
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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.
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Only the other world has substance and reality; only good deeds and holy learning have tangible worth.
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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.
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I'm very thankful that I can make people happy just by signing my name.
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Now that I'm gone, I tell you, don't smoke.
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I just want to show the fans my big smile and play the game that I love.
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If I can save one kid's life, for me, it's absolutely worth it.
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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.
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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.
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When I'm working in the studio, I like to be on my own because I don't know where I'm going; I want to be completely free to spend lots of time on songs.
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If you don't know your own value, somebody will tell you your value, and it'll be less than you're worth.
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I lived in London for a long time, and that's a pretty white town. In Toronto, I just ended up in this circle of indie rock kids who happened to be white, too... Really, it was just when I started getting out there and meeting more people and seeing more fans that I went, 'Oh, actually, I'm not white.'
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What the computer can do in art and design has turned aesthetics on its head... with the computer, things are not so much created as they are produced, with the producer-director becoming the star and the controlling force of much that was in other hands at other times.
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I had a five-year plan to get to 500-seat venues and tour by ourselves and fill a room everywhere we go. I figured we could make a living off that. As long as you buy nothing stupid, you'll be OK.
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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.
