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Quote by Colm Toibin

“I did think of becoming a priest quite late on, when other boys were thinking of knocking over fences and going out with girls. I would have made a very good bishop: nice housekeeper, nice clothes - god, the clothes.”

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 first went to Barcelona in 1975 after university, and I stayed for three years. I learnt Catalan because that's what everyone speaks in the mountains. They speak English to foreigners, but what people say to each other is much more important than what they say to you.”

People Years Firsts Important Three Speak Mountain University Three Years Foreigners Barcelona Speak English

Author: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.”

Writing Years Would Be Song Morning Impossible Opera Chamber Listening To Music Symphony Wagner Aria Schubert Handel Chamber Music Choral Music Sibelius

Author:Colm Toibin

“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.”

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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.”

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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.”

Thinking Firsts I Can Book Would Be Remember Courses Rooms Seeing Pride Baby First Time Excitement Publishers

Author:Colm Toibin