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Colm Toibin Quotes
'One Minus One' and 'Barcelona, 1975' are more or less autobiographical.
~ Colm Toibin
Autobiographical
Barcelona
Less
Minus
More
More Or Less
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copy
All writing is a form of manipulation, of course, but you realize that a plain sentence can actually do so much.
~ Colm Toibin
Actually
Course
Form
Manipulation
Much
Plain
Realize
Sentence
Writing
You
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Anyone who works in the arts knows, if you're writing a novel or a play or anything, you have to be ready for someone to say, 'Your time is up.'
~ Colm Toibin
Anyone
Anything
Arts
Knows
Novel
Play
Ready
Say
Someone
Time
Up
Who
Works
Writing
You
Your
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Between the ages of 8 and 12 it was difficult to know what my father was saying, and he moved very slowly, and then he died.
~ Colm Toibin
Ages
Between
Died
Difficult
Father
He
Know
Moved
Saying
Slowly
Then
Very
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Between the time I was 16 until I was about 20, the books I read were by people like Thomas Mann, James Baldwin, Thom Gunn, Elizabeth Bishop. All gay, of course, although I swear I didn't know that at the time. Yet all of them, it turned out, had had a parent who died during their childhood. Sexuality is nothing compared to that.
~ Colm Toibin
About
Although
Between
Bishop
Books
Childhood
Compared
Course
Died
Elizabeth
Gay
Had
James
Know
Like
Nothing
Out
Parent
People
Read
Sexuality
Swear
Them
Thom
Thomas
Time
Turned
Until
Were
Who
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Describe character using dialogue. Describe character using what the characters see or do or think, but not what they had done or where they had been.
~ Colm Toibin
Been
Character
Characters
Describe
Dialogue
Done
Had
See
Think
Using
Where
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Everyone who's in America spends the first few years not experiencing it. The person is frightened by the newness of the place and doesn't see things. Her emotional universe becomes the entire universe. And then when she thinks of home, her distance in space can seem like a distance in time.
~ Colm Toibin
America
Becomes
Distance
Emotional
Entire
Everyone
Experiencing
Few
First
Frightened
Her
Home
Like
Newness
Person
Place
See
Seem
She
Space
Then
Things
Thinks
Time
Universe
Years
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History is a way of interpreting, rather than, say, knowing, the past. It is usually a set of disputes between those who have access to the same sources. It depends on ideology as much as voting in an election does.
~ Colm Toibin
Access
Between
Depends
Disputes
Does
Election
History
Ideology
Interpreting
Knowing
Much
Past
Rather
Same
Say
Set
Sources
Than
Those
Voting
Way
Who
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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.
~ Colm Toibin
Am
Desk
Different
Drafts
First
Fountain
Fountain Pen
I Am
I Write
Long
Longhand
Notebook
Pen
Plastic
Room
Then
Using
Violently
Word
Work
Write
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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.
~ Colm Toibin
Becoming
Bishop
Boy
Clothes
Did
Fences
Girl
God
Going
Good
Knocking
Late
Made
Nice
Other
Out
Over
Priest
Quite
Think
Thinking
Very
Were
Would
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I don't think we have a right to enjoy our neuroses; in fact, I believe that we have a duty not to. But we cannot walk away from ourselves. Who else is there to become?
~ Colm Toibin
Away
Become
Believe
Cannot
Duty
Else
Enjoy
Fact
I Believe
I Believe That
In Fact
Neuroses
Our
Ourselves
Right
Think
Walk
We Cannot
Who
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I feel just fine about ignoring or bypassing the rights of people I have known and loved to be rendered faithfully, or to be left in peace, and out of novels.
~ Colm Toibin
About
Faithfully
Feel
Fine
I Feel
Ignoring
Just
Known
Left
Loved
Novels
Out
Peace
People
Rendered
Rights
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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.
~ Colm Toibin
After
Barcelona
Because
Each
English
Everyone
First
Foreigners
Important
Learnt
More
Mountains
Much
Other
People
People Say
Say
Speak
Speaks
Stayed
Than
They Say
Three
University
Years
You
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I have to write a first draft with a fountain pen before I type it up as a second.
~ Colm Toibin
Before
Draft
First
Fountain
Fountain Pen
Pen
Second
Type
Up
Write
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I live in words. I like looking at things, but I don't have a strong visual imagination.
~ Colm Toibin
Imagination
Like
Live
Looking
Strong
Things
Visual
Words
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I lived in the Republic of Ireland. I wrote a book about the North but as an outsider. The hatreds there were not mine. I never felt them. I liked how open in most ways Catalan nationalism was, compared to Irish nationalism. I disliked the violence and cruelty in Ireland.
~ Colm Toibin
About
Book
Compared
Cruelty
Disliked
Felt
How
Ireland
Irish
Liked
Lived
Mine
Most
Nationalism
Never
North
Open
Outsider
Republic
Them
Violence
Ways
Were
Wrote
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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.
~ Colm Toibin
Also
Am
Bach
Beethoven
Chamber
I Am
Impossible
Like
Listen
Mornings
Mostly
Mozart
Music
Never
Opera
Recent
Recent Years
Some
Songs
Symphonies
Wagner
Would
Would-Be
Writing
Years
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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?'
~ Colm Toibin
About
America
Careful
Faces
Firefighters
Foot
How
Irish
Learnt
Like
Looked
Me
Mean
Outsiders
Photographs
Put
Race
Said
Someone
Stood
Talking
Towers
Twin
Up
Who
You
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I still have a stammer that I can control by not opening a sentence with a hard consonant, or by concentrating for a moment, breathing softly down. Growing up, the 'Our Father' was lovely, made for me, the 'Hail Mary' was gorgeous, and 'Glory Be to the Father' was an absolute nightmare.
~ Colm Toibin
Absolute
Breathing
Concentrating
Control
Down
Father
Glory
Gorgeous
Growing
Growing Up
Hail
Hard
I Can
Lovely
Made
Mary
Me
Moment
Nightmare
Opening
Our
Our Father
Sentence
Softly
Still
Up
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I suppose one should have an integrated personality, but I've never really seen the point.
~ Colm Toibin
Integrated
Never
Personality
Point
Really
Seen
Should
Suppose
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AuthorName
Colm Toibin
Profession
Novelist
BirthDate
30 May, 1955
Country
Ireland
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