There's nothing sillier in the world than a teacher telling you don't do it after you already did it. — Frank McCourt Education Copy Share Image
“I was sick of my miserable childhood, too, the way it followed me across the Atlantic and kept nagging at me to… — Frank McCourt Childhood Copy Share Image
Love her as in childhood Through feeble, old and grey. For you’ll never miss a mother’s love Till she’s buried beneath the… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
Something happened when the memoirs of so-called ordinary people, like myself, suddenly hit the bestseller list. — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
When I was a kid, I was a pretty good runner, and there was nothing like winning a race. — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
“They said her duck recipe and the Chinese music were so dramatic everything else sounded anemic.” — Frank McCourt Anemic Copy Share Image
Just luxuriate in a certain memory, and the details will come. It's like a magnet attracting steel filings. — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
I loved reading and writing, and teaching was the most exalted profession I could imagine. — Frank McCourt Career Copy Share Image
I think that's why you see so many Americans in Dublin look so sad: they are looking for the door through which… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
“There's no use asking more questions. If you ask a question they tell you it's a mystery, you'll understand when you grow… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
Even when I went to the Lion's Head in the Village, where all you journalists would hang out, I was always peripheral.… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
We were supposed to stay over in Boston, but when Scribners heard I'd won the Pulitzer, they told me to get on… — Frank McCourt Body Copy Share Image
There was a kind of madness in the country. Eamon De Valera, the prime minister, had this vision of an Ireland where… — Frank McCourt Country Copy Share Image
“The boys from Staten Island would fill more body bags than Stuyvesant could ever imagine. Mechanics and plumbers had to fight while… — Frank McCourt College student Copy Share Image
I would dream of going up to the 'New York Times' and asking them if I could please be a copy boy… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
You sail into the harbor, and Staten Island is on your left, and then you see the Statue of Liberty. This is… — Frank McCourt Dreams Copy Share Image
Worse than the ordinary, miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. — Frank McCourt Childhood Copy Share Image
I say, Billy, what’s the use in playing croquet when you’re doomed? He says, Frankie, what’s the use of not playing croquet… — Frank McCourt Croquet Copy Share Image
“When the dark clouds flutter like bats in my head I wish I could open a window and release them.” — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
I just have to proceed as usual. No matter what happens, nothing helps with the writing of the next book. — Frank McCourt Book Copy Share Image
I don't believe in happiness anyway... it's too much of an American pastime, this search for happiness. Just forget happiness and enjoy… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
Everyone has a story to tell. All you have to do is write it. But it's not that easy. — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
I was just dreaming, and if, if I'd written the book and nobody wanted it, I would have put it in the… — Frank McCourt Book Copy Share Image
And, of course, they've always condemned dancing. You know, you might touch a member of the opposite sex. And you might get… — Frank McCourt Dance Copy Share Image
“No one is so busy they can't take time to make a decent cup of tea and if you are that busy… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
I admire certain priests and nuns who go off on their own and do God's work on their own, who help in… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
It's not enough to be American. You always have to be something else, Irish-American, German-American, and you'd wonder how they'd get along… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
I worked in a number of high schools in New York, and I wound up at Stuyvesant High School, which is known… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
I told her tea bags were just a convenience for people with busy lives and she said no one is so busy… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
Sit and quiet yourself. Luxuriate in a certain memory and the details will come. Let the images flow. You'll be amazed at… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
When I got out of the army, I had the G.I. Bill. Since I had no high school education or anything like… — Frank McCourt Army Copy Share Image
You're beginning to hear the tale of the common man and woman rather than the traditional memoir about the generals who just… — Frank McCourt Beginning Copy Share Image
I couldn't fit in the Irish community in New York. I was never one of the boys because they would talk about… — Frank McCourt Baseball Copy Share Image
It's like a series of waves hitting you. First, getting excerpted in the 'New Yorker' last summer, then getting published, then the… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
First of all there is always that artistic challenge of creating something. Or the particular experience to take slum life in that… — Frank McCourt Art Copy Share Image
I had no accomplishments except surviving. But that isn't enough in the community where I came from, because everybody was doing it.… — Frank McCourt Accomplishments Copy Share Image
“Samuel Beckett was saying, in a new biography, that he could remember being in the womb, which, of course, is a bit… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
They all went into the bar business. Which was a mistake, because they began to sip at the merchandise and it set… — Frank McCourt Business Copy Share Image
A lot of people say writers start losing their powers after 60 or 65. But I look at the best-seller list and… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
