Quotessence
Home / Authors / Frank McCourt
Frank McCourt

Frank McCourt Quotes

Teacher

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsWorldMightMotherAshesGivingKnowsMindPeopleChildhood

Famous Frank McCourt Quotes

“People everywhere brag and whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bullying school masters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years. Above all -- we were wet.”

PeopleYearsLongSchoolMotherFatherPovertyFireMastersTerribleHundredEightVersionsComparePriestsBullyingWetDefeatedWoeTerrible ThingsPiousBragPompousMoaning
Book:Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
Create image

“The master says it's a glorious thing to die for the Faith and Dad says it's a glorious thing to die for Ireland and I wonder if there's anyone in the world who would like us to live. My brothers are dead and my sister is dead and I wonder if they died for Ireland or for the Faith. Dad says they were too young to die for anything. Mam says it was disease and starvation and him never having a job. Dad says, Och, Angela, puts on his cap, and goes for a long walk.”

IfsWorldLongJobsYoungDiesWalksWonderBrotherMastersDadDiseaseDiedMy BrotherGloriousMy SisterIrelandAshesCapsStarvationAngelaLong Walks
Author:Frank McCourt
Create image

“I must congratulate myself, in passing, for never having lost the ability to examine my conscience, never having lost the gift of finding myself wanting & defective. Why fear the criticism of others when you, yourself, are first out of the critical gate? If self-denigration is the race I am the winner, even before the starting gun. Collect the bets.”

IfsFirstsSelfLostAbilityRaceFindingsGunConscienceCriticismStartingCriticalPassingPassingsWinnerGatesDefectiveFinding MyselfCriticism Of Others
Book:Teacher Man: A Memoir
Create image

“In the high school classroom you are a drill sergent, a rabbi, a shoulder to cry on, a disciplinarian, a singer, a low-level scholar, a clerk, a referee, a clown, a counselor, a dress-code enforcer, a conductor, an apologist, a philosopher, a collaborator, a tap dancer, a politician, a therapist, a fool, a traffic cop, a priest, a mother-father-brother-sister-uncle-aunt, a bookeeper, a critic, a psychologist, the last straw.”

SchoolLastsMotherFatherLevelsCryBrotherFoolPoliticianLowsHigh SchoolDressesCriticsPhilosopherSingersShouldersCodeDancerPriestsClassroomScholarCopTrafficUnclesClownAuntPsychologistTherapistsStrawsConductorDrillsClerksCounselorCollaboratorsRabbiRefereeLow LevelBrother SisterDress CodeTap DancersShoulder To Cry On
Book:Teacher Man: A Memoir
Create image

“He says, you have to study and learn so that you can make up your own mind about history and everything else but you can’t make up an empty mind. Stock your mind, stock your mind. It is your house of treasure and no one in the world can interfere with it. If you won the Irish Sweepstakes and bought a house that needed furniture would you fill it with bits and pieces of rubbish? Your mind is your house and if you fill it with rubbish from the cinemas it will rot in your head. You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.”

IfsWorldMindMightHouseBitsPoorStudyPiecesBrokenNeededEmptyShoesTreasureCinemaInterfereFurniturePalacesRubbishBits And PiecesEmpty MindSweepstakes
Author:Frank McCourt
Create image

“You never know when you might come home and find Mam sitting by the fire chatting with a woman and a child, strangers. Always a woman and child. Mam finds them wandering the streets and if they ask, Could you spare a few pennies, miss? her heart breaks. She never has money so she invites them home for tea and a bit of fried bread and if it's a bad night she'll let them sleep by the fire on a pile of rags in the corner. The bread she gives them always means less for us and if we complain she says there are always people worse off and we can surely spare a little from what we have.”

PeopleIfsKnowsGivingHeartMeanChildrenLittlesHomeMightNightAsksBitsSleepBreakFireStreetsMissingSittingCornersStrangerComplainingBreadWanderTeaComing HomeInvitesSparesPenniesRagsHeart BreakChattingBad Night
Book:Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
Create image