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Colum McCann

Colum McCann Quotes

Writer

Colum McCann is an Irish writer known for his profound character development and rich narrative techniques. His works often explore the relationship between individuals and society, as well as deep insights into history and culture. Born on February 28, 1965, McCann's writing career began in the 1990s, and he has published numerous novels and short story collections.

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Famous Colum McCann Quotes

“Novels are more difficult simply because they are longer and require more juggling, but short stories are closer to perfection, if you can get the language right.”

Ifs Stories Language Difficult Novel Perfection Short Story Juggling

Author:Colum McCann

“I'm not so sure that I can teach people how to, you know, write dialogue or create plot or anything like that. But if I can get them and grab them by the scruff of the neck and say, you can do this, and if I see that fire in their eyes, that's when I think I know a writer.”

People Ifs Thinking Knows Writing I Can Eye Can Do Teach Fire Dialogue Necks Plot

Author:Colum McCann

“If you sort of see yourself writing into a space that you don't always recognize, you sometimes learn things that you knew, but weren't entirely aware of. It's very liberating for a writer to go into a space where she or he has not gone before, because, instead of being a tourist, you're like an explorer now, and you're sort of lost in this new idea.”

Ifs Writing Ideas Sometimes Lost Space Gone New Ideas Liberating Tourists Explorers

Author:Colum McCann

“If you have a structure beforehand, you're sort of stuffing your story into a pre-assembled box. You don't want that to happen. What you want in your writing is to have a sort of wildness that occurs. And then, out of the wildness, a structure emerges.”

Ifs Want Writing Stories Happens Structure Boxes What You Want Wildness

Author:Colum McCann

“I think it is our job, as writers, to be epic. Epic and tiny at the same time. If you're going to be a fiction writer, why not take on something that means something. In doing this, you must understand that within that epic structure it is the tiny story that is possibly more important.”

Ifs Thinking Mean Important Stories Jobs Fiction Structure Tiny Why Not Epic Fiction Writers

Author:Colum McCann

“Corrigan told me once that Christ was quite easy to understand. He went where He was supposed to go. He stayed where He was needed. He took little or nothing along, a pair of sandals, a bit of a shirt, a few odds and ends to stave off the loneliness. He never rejected the world. If He had rejected it, He would have been rejecting mystery. And if He rejected mystery, He would have been rejecting faith.”

Ifs World Littles Has Beens Ends Easy Bits Christ Mystery Loneliness Needed Shirts Pairs Odds Rejected Rejecting Sandals Odds And Ends

Book:Let The Great World Spin

Source: Let The Great World Spin

“Some people think love is the end of the road, and if you're lucky enough to find it, you stay there. Other people say it just becomes a cliff you drive off, but most people who've been around awhile know it's just a thing that changes day by day, and depending on how much you fight for it, you get it, or you hold on to it, or you lose it, but sometimes it's never even there in the first place.”

People Ifs Thinking Knows Firsts Ends Sometimes Enough Fighting Loses Love Is Lucky Cliffs End Of The Road

Book:Let The Great World Spin

Source: Let The Great World Spin

“Even if you're going to die, you might as well die pretty.”

Ifs Wells Might Dies

Book:Let the Great World Spin: A Novel

Source: Let the Great World Spin: A Novel

“She wanted to tell him so mach, on the tarmac, the day he left. The world is run by brutal men and the surest proof is their armies. If they ask you to stand still, you should dance. If they ask you to burn the flag, wave it. If they ask you to murder, re-create.”

Ifs Men World Should Stills Running Wanted Asks Left Army Murder Wave Proof Flags Brutal

Book:Let The Great World Spin

Source: Let The Great World Spin

“That was the sort of everyday love I had to learn to contend with: if you grow up with it, it's hard to think you'll ever match it. I used to think it was difficult for children of folks who really loved each other, hard to get out from under that skin because sometimes it's just so comfortable you don't want to have to develop your own.”

Ifs Thinking Want Children Sometimes Hard Used Grows Difficult Growing Up Comfortable Skins Everyday Folks

Author:Colum McCann

“He told me once that there was no better faith than a wounded faith and sometimes I wonder if that is what he was doing all along --trying to wound his faith in order to test it--and I was just another stone in the way of his God.”

Ifs Way Trying Sometimes Order Wonder Stones Tests Wounds Wounded Sometimes I Wonder

Book:Let The Great World Spin

Source: Let The Great World Spin

“Even if people laughed at the notion of goodness, if they found it sentimental, or nostalgic, it didn't matter -- it was none of those things, he said, and it had to be fought for.”

People Ifs Said Matter Found Goodness Notion Laughed Sentimental Nostalgic

Book:Let The Great World Spin

Source: Let The Great World Spin

“Goodness was more difficult than evil. Evil men knew that more than good men. That's why they became evil. That's why it stuck with them. Evil was for those who could never reach the truth. It was a mask for stupidity and lack of love. Even if people laughed at the notion of goodness, if they found it sentimental, or nostalgic, it didn't matter -- it was none of those things, he said, and it had to be fought for.”

People Ifs Men Said Matter Evil Found Difficult Goodness Notion Stupidity Stuck Mask Good Man Laughed Sentimental Nostalgic Evil Man Lack Of Love

Book:Let The Great World Spin

Source: Let The Great World Spin

“If they ask you to stand still, you should dance.”

Ifs Should Stills Asks

Book:Let The Great World Spin

Source: Let The Great World Spin

“I'm only telling you on the truth," he said. "If you can't stand the truth, don't ask for it.”

Book:Let the Great World Spin: A Novel

Source: Let the Great World Spin: A Novel

“The essence of intelligence was to know when, or if, to expose even the heart's deep need for instruction.”

Ifs Knows Needs Heart Essence Instruction

Book:TransAtlantic

Source: TransAtlantic

About the Author

Born: February 28, 1965
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 207

Related Topics

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Books & Sources

Let The Great World SpinRelated source material

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Let the Great World Spin: A NovelRelated source material

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