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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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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There's something about the modern era where it's very hard to transgress - we're all so online, easier to track by mobile phone - so you have people who do it on your behalf.
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We shot 'Party Girl' on film, and I remember being told, 'We need to get this in two takes because we don't have a lot of film in the mag right now!'
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I am excited about focusing full-time on talking about my job-creation agenda and building a new economy for Washington state. We have a great chance to seize our own destiny, build our own industries, and create our own technological revolutions right here at home.
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We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.
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The secret of success lies in that old word, 'Drudgery,' in doing one thing long after it ceases to be amusing; and it is 'this one thing I do' that gathers me together from my chaos, that concentrates me from possibilities to powers, and turns powers into achievements.
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It took me a long time to be able to write for the 'New Yorker,' and for me, that has been the best job. I live a very conventional life, but reporting for the magazine has allowed me to do things I would never otherwise do, such as investigating a criminal conspiracy in Guatemala or trekking through the Amazon looking for a lost city.
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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.
