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Quote by Colm Toibin

“I never listen to music when I am writing. It would be impossible. I listen to Bach in the mornings, mostly choral music; also some Handel, mostly songs and arias; I like Schubert's and Beethoven's chamber music and Sibelius' symphonies; for opera, I listen to Mozart and in recent years Wagner.”

Quote by Colm Toibin

Author

Colm Toibin is an Irish novelist known for his profound psychological portraits and insightful exploration of Irish history and culture. His works often focus on individual identity, family relationships, and social changes, earning him critical acclaim and popularity among readers. more

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“I said that when I looked at photographs of the firefighters who went into the Twin Towers, their faces looked to me like Irish faces. I hadn't yet learnt how careful outsiders have to be when talking about race in America, and I'd put my foot in it. Someone stood up and said aggressively, 'What do you mean by Irish faces?'”

Mean Said America Faces Race Talking Feet Photograph Careful Outsiders Twins Towers Stood Up Firefighter Race In America Twin Towers

Author:Colm Toibin

“I was first in Sydney in 1993, and have been a few times since then. For someone who didn't know Australia, it came as a shock how intelligent, interesting and funny the people were. If I lived there I might see it differently, but as a visitor it was a lot of fun.”

People Ifs Knows Firsts Has Beens Might Fun Interesting Intelligent Shock Australia Visitors Sydney

Author:Colm Toibin

“I went to live in Barcelona in 1975, when I was twenty. Even before I went there, I knew more about the Spanish Civil War than I did about the Irish Civil War. I liked Barcelona, and then I grew to like a place in the Catalan Pyrenees called the Pillars, especially an area between the village of Flavors and the high mountains around it.”

War Grew Mountain Areas Twenties Civil War Village Flavor Pillars Barcelona Spanish Civil War

Author:Colm Toibin

“I've never put Northern Ireland into a novel because it's not my territory. I come from the South, so my imaginative territory is very much the Republic of Ireland rather than the North. Even though, if I wrote a novel about the North, it might sell more.”

Ifs Might Novel Sells South Republic Territory Ireland Imaginative Northern Ireland

Author:Colm Toibin

“It may be enough to study history in all its nuance and ambiguity for its own sake. But there is no country free of the need to find new ways of reading the past as an inspiring way of thinking about everything else, including the present.”

Thinking Way Needs May Country Enough Past Reading Study Including Sake New Ways Way Of Thinking Ambiguity Nuance

Author:Colm Toibin

“The problem is once you've written the opening paragraph and worked out how the rest of the story will go in your head, there's nothing in it for you. I write in longhand using disposable fountain pens on the right-hand side of the notebook for the first draft, then I rewrite some of the sentences and paragraphs on the left-hand side.”

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Author:Colm Toibin

“The Roman Catholic Church and its rituals were so much part of life that, although my parents would often question a small matter of dogma and none of us seemed more religious than anyone else, no one ever questioned the rituals or the basic tenets of belief.”

Matter Belief Parent Church Religious Catholic Ritual Dogma Catholic Church Parts Of Life Roman Catholic Roman Catholic Church Religious Dogma

Author:Colm Toibin

“When a book comes from the publisher and you see it for the first time... Of course it's not remotely like seeing a baby for the first time, but I can remember with each book what room I was in when I opened it. That would be excitement, though, I think. Not pride.”

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Author:Colm Toibin

“While historians may go on attempting grand, sweeping and defining narratives, they work in a time when readers know that another narrative always lies in wait, and that the more intelligent an historian is, the more tentative and self-scrutinizing the tone.”

Knows May Self Lying Waiting Goes On Reader Intelligent Narrative Tone Historian Attempting Defining Sweeping

Author:Colm Toibin

“You create a world away from home and make new rooms for yourself. But when you arrive back home in your old rooms, the world you've made for yourself ceases to be real. Everything seems to crumble. Anyone who's been sent away to boarding school can understand that.”

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Author:Colm Toibin