Before the famine, which was in the 1840s, that was an emotional turning point... There are various documents showing how the Elizabethan English, in particular, were shocked by Irish displays of affection, by the way women acted toward strangers, walking… — Frank McCourt Copy Share Image
I'm not one of those James Joyce intellectuals who can stand back and look at the whole edifice... It was a slow process for… — Frank McCourt Copy Share
I admire certain priests and nuns who go off on their own and do God's work on their own, who help in the ghettos,… — Frank McCourt Copy Share
Just luxuriate in a certain memory, and the details will come. It's like a magnet attracting steel filings. — Frank McCourt Copy Share
They all went into the bar business. Which was a mistake, because they began to sip at the merchandise and it set them back,… — Frank McCourt Copy Share
My childhood here... was very limited. So it was a long, long time before I actually went out to Brooklyn. — Frank McCourt Copy Share
We never really had any kind of a Christmas. This is one part where my memory fails me completely. — Frank McCourt Copy Share
A lot of people say writers start losing their powers after 60 or 65. But I look at the best-seller list and see a… — Frank McCourt Copy Share
“When the dark clouds flutter like bats in my head I wish I could open a window and release them.” — Frank McCourt Copy Share
I just have to proceed as usual. No matter what happens, nothing helps with the writing of the next book. — Frank McCourt Copy Share
Worse than the ordinary, miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. — Frank McCourt Copy Share
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 if someone… — Frank McCourt Copy Share
I had to get rid of any idea of hell or any idea of the afterlife. That's what held me, kept me down. So… — Frank McCourt Copy Share
