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I wanted to be a poet as a child and I have a wall in my study dedicated to poetry books, all in alphabetical order, that reminds me daily of my failure.

— Colm Tóibín

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More quotes by Colm Tóibín

If a storyteller came up to me, I'd run away.

Ending a novel is almost like putting a child to sleep – it can't be done abruptly.

I was brought up in a house where there was a great deal of silence.

I have a rule that I don't drink in New York because I don't want to wake up with a hangover and not be able to work.

I was the worst barman who ever lived. My pints of Guinness were unholy.

All Colm Tóibín quotes →

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

It is not in the books of the Philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the Ancients, that we must look for the footprints of Science, and re-discover the Mysteries of Knowledge.

Albert Pike Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871)

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.

Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.

Logan Pearsall Smith Afterthoughts (1931)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Colm Tóibín (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.