Home / Quotes / Quote by John McGahern

Quote by John McGahern

“Anything that is given can be at once taken away. We have to learn never to expect anything, and when it comes it's no more than a gift on loan.”

Quote by John McGahern

Author

John McGahern was an Irish writer known for his profound emotional depth and delicate prose. His works often focus on rural Irish life, particularly in his hometown of County Sligo. McGahern's novels and short stories are celebrated for their deep character portrayals. more

You May Also Like

“Ireland is a peculiar society in the sense that it was a nineteenth century society up to about 1970 and then it almost bypassed the twentieth century.”

Century Peculiar Ireland Twentieth Century Nineteenth Century Being Irish Ireland And The Irish

Author:John McGahern

“My favorite optimist was an American who jumped off the Empire State Building, and as he passed the 42nd floor, the window washers heard him say, 'So Far, so good.'”

States Heard Building Window My Favorite Empires Optimist Empire State Building Empire State

Author:John McGahern

“As a writer, I write to see. If I knew how it would end, I wouldn't write. It's a process of discovery.”

Ifs Writing Ends Process Discovery

Author:John McGahern

“Nothing had happened yet in my life except the need to get out of it.”

Book:The Gathering

Source: The Gathering

“We have lost the art of public tenderness, these small gestures of wiping and washing; we have forgotten how abjectly the body welcomes a formal touch.”

Art Body Lost Forgotten Gestures Tenderness Formal Washing Small Gestures

Book:The Gathering

Source: The Gathering

“Cats, I always think, only jump into your lap to check if you are cold enough, yet, to eat.”

Ifs Thinking Enough Cold Cat Checks Lap

Author:Anne Enright

“And, in fact, this is the tale that I would love to write: history is such a romantic place, with its jarveys and urchins and side-buttoned boots. If it would just stay still, I think, and settle down. If it would just stop sliding around in my head.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Stills Facts Sides Tales Settling Boots Settling Down

Author:Anne Enright

“Imagine that you are dying. If you had a terminal disease would you finish this book? Why not? The thing that annoys this 10-weeks-to-live self is the thing that is wrong with the book. So change it. Stop arguing with yourself. Change it. See? Easy. And no one had to die.”

Ifs Book Self Dies Easy Imagine Week Dying Disease Arguing Why Not Annoying Imagine That Terminal Terminal Disease

Author:Anne Enright

“I do not believe in evil- I believe that we are human and fallible, that we things and spoil them in an ordinary way.”

Way Believe Humans Evil I Believe Ordinary Spoil

Author:Anne Enright

“I think you know everything at eight. But is is hidden from you, sealed up, in a way you have to cut yourself open to find.”

Thinking Knows Way Cutting Eight

Author:Anne Enright