Home / Quotes / Quote by Colm Toibin

Quote by Colm Toibin

“Three of my novels and a good number of my short stories are told from the point of view of men. I was brought up in a house of women.”

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

You May Also Like

“Writer's block! It doesn't exist. You just long for ideas to go away so you have an idea of peace.”

Long Ideas Block Going Away Writer's Block

Author:Colm Toibin

“Writing tends to be very deliberate. A novelist could probably run a military campaign with some success. They could certainly run a country.”

Writing Country Running Military Campaigns Novelists Deliberate

Author:Colm Toibin

“I am violently untidy. My desk is overcrowded. I write my first drafts in longhand in a long notebook using a plastic throwaway fountain pen. Then I work on a word processor using a different desk and a different room.”

Writing Firsts Long Different Rooms Pens Plastic Desks Fountain Notebook Processors Fountain Pens

Author: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.”

Thinking Made Girl Boys Nice Becoming Late Clothes Very Good Priests Going Out Fence Bishops Knocking Housekeepers Nice Clothes

Author:Colm Toibin

“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