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Perhaps the last moment is not the saddest. Mine was when they wouldn't let me be an altar boy. Chose the chap who said he wanted to be close to God. I said I wanted to carry a big candle so I could look great and my aunt could see me. Waltzing on the altar of a sunday.

— J. P. Donleavy The Onion Eaters (1971)

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More quotes by J. P. Donleavy

"Mr Dangerfield, why don't you believe in hell and things like that?"
"Hell is for poor people."

The Ginger Man (1955)

They say there is good in everyone. If you just give them a chance. And a good boot in the arse.

The Ginger Man (1955)

"I swim back to the shores of privilege out of the sea of the dispossessed."

The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B (1968)

In a big bowl full of hatred can you ever find a spoonful of love.

The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman (1977)

Reach up to put a hand to some dream you kept awake. Now you take it like a red ripe apple and polish quietly up and down one's sleeve.

The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B (1968)

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Attribution

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