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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

“Increasingly I think of myself as some strange and solitary conductor, introduced to a group of very dynamic musicians who happen to be my characters, and I have no idea how they are going to play together, and I have certainly no idea how I am going to put manners on them.”

Thinking Ideas Play Character Happens Together Groups Strange Musician Manners No Idea Solitary Conductor

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

“A lot of people think that writers are much cleverer than they actually are. No, they're not. But they're emotionally clever, and they go into a character, and they feel something that they weren't entirely aware of beforehand.”

People Thinking Feels Character Clever

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

“I think the Northern Ireland accent is one of the most beautiful in the world.”

Thinking World Beautiful Ireland Accents Northern Ireland

Author:Colum McCann

“You cannot read any image of the World Trade Center without thinking of 9/11.”

Thinking World Trade World Trade World Trade Center

Author:Colum McCann

“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

“People think they know the mystery of living in your skin. They don't. There's no one who knows except the person who carts it around her own self.”

People Thinking Knows Persons Self Mystery Skins Carts

Book:Let The Great World Spin

Source: Let The Great World Spin

“There are rocks deep enough in this earth that no matter what the rupture, they will never see the surface. There is, I think, a fear of love. There is a fear of love.”

Thinking Matter Enough Earth Rocks No Matter What Surface Fear Of Love Rupture

Book:Let the Great World Spin: A Novel

Source: Let the Great World Spin: A Novel

“And I suddenly think, as I look across the table at him, that these are the days as they will be. This is the future as we see it. The swerve and the static. The confidence and the doubt.”

Thinking Looks Doubt Tables Static Swerve

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

“The person we know at first, she thinks, is not the one we know at last.”

Thinking Knows Firsts Persons Lasts

Book:Let the Great World Spin: A Novel

Source: Let the Great World Spin: A Novel

“We stumble on, thinks Jaslyn, bring a little noise into the silence, find in others the ongoing of ourselves. It is almost enough.”

Thinking Littles Enough Silence Noise Ongoing

Book:Let The Great World Spin

Source: Let The Great World Spin

“There's a part of me that thinks perhaps we go on existing in a place even after we've left it.”

Thinking Left Goes On

Book:Let The Great World Spin

Source: Let The Great World Spin

“Sometimes we just walk into something that is not for us at all. We pretend it is. We think we can shrug it off like a coat, but it's not a coat at all, it's more like another skin. [...] All I wanted was to make my life thrilling for a while: to take the oridinary objects of my days and make a different argument out of them, no obligations to my past.”

Thinking Different Sometimes Wanted Past Walks Objects Argument Skins Obligation Coats Thrilling My Past

Author:Colum McCann

“Sometimes thinking back on things is a mistake arising out of pride, but I guess you live inside a moment for years, move with it and feel it grow, and it sends out roots until it touches everything in sight.”

Thinking Feels Years Sometimes Moments Moving Grows Mistake Pride Roots Sight

Book:Let The Great World Spin

Source: Let The Great World Spin

“I sit there thinking about how much courage it takes to live an ordinary life.”

Thinking Ordinary Ordinary Life

Book:Let The Great World Spin

Source: Let The Great World Spin

“I think a good novel can be a doorstop to despair. I also think the real bravery comes with those who prepared to go through that door and look at the world in all its grime and torment, and still find something of value, no matter how small.”

Thinking World Looks Stills Real Matter Values Novel Doors Despair Bravery Prepared Torment Grime

Author:Colum McCann

“I think one of the biggest political failures, and the biggest social failures, over the past few years has been the failure of empathy; not being able to look at the other person down the street.”

Thinking Years Looks Persons Has Beens Able Past Political Social Streets Empathy Over The Past

Author:Colum McCann

About the Author

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

Related Topics

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