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A lot of people think that writers are much cleverer than they actually are. No, they're not. But they're emotionally clever, and they go into a character, and they feel something that they weren't entirely aware of beforehand.

Colum McCann

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Colum McCann
Age: 59
Born: 1965
Born: February 28
Academic
Journalist
Novelist
Screenwriter
Writer
Dublin city
Thinking
Writers
People
Actually
Cleverer
Character
Beforehand
Feel
Emotionally
Feels
Weren
Much
Entirely
Something
Clever
Think
Aware

More quotes by Colum McCann

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Stories are the best democracy we have. We are allowed to become the other we never dreamed we could be.
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Words are good for saying what things are, but sometimes they don't function for what things aren't.
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The person we know at first, she thinks, is not the one we know at last.
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He might have been naive, but he didn't care he said he's rather die with his heart on his sleeve than end up another cynic.
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Part of the beauty of fiction is that we come alive in a body that we don't own.
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With all respects to heaven, I like it here.
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Long ago, long ago. The simple things come back to us. They rest for a moment by our ribcages then suddenly reach in and twist our hearts a notch backward.
Colum McCann
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He felt for a moment uncreated. Another kind of awake.
Colum McCann
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Novels are more difficult simply because they are longer and require more juggling, but short stories are closer to perfection, if you can get the language right.
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Give life long enough and it will solve all your problems, including the one of being alive.
Colum McCann
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We seldom know what we're hearing when we hear something for the first time, but one thing is certain: we hear it as we will never hear it again. We return to the moment to experience it, I suppose, but we can never really find it, only its memory, the faintest imprint of what really was, what it meant.
Colum McCann
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We have to listen to other people's stories. That's the thing. And that's the only way that we eventually get to know ourselves.
Colum McCann
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There are moments we return to, now and always. Family is like water - it has a memory of what it once filled, always trying to get back to the original stream.
Colum McCann
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I sit there thinking about how much courage it takes to live an ordinary life.
Colum McCann
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Ultimately, you can only ever write what you know. It's logically and philosophically impossible to write what you don't know.
Colum McCann
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I think the Northern Ireland accent is one of the most beautiful in the world.
Colum McCann
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There is always room for at least two truths.
Colum McCann
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I don't know of a greater privilege than being allowed to tell a story, or to listen to a story. They're the only thing we have that can trump life itself.
Colum McCann
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I think a good novel can be a doorstop to despair. I also think the real bravery comes with those who prepared to go through that door and look at the world in all its grime and torment, and still find something of value, no matter how small.
Colum McCann
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I know already that I will return to this day whenever I want to. I can bid it alive. Preserve it. There is a still point where the present, the now, winds around itself, and nothing is tangled. The river is not where it begins or ends, but right in the middle point, anchored by what has happened and what is to arrive.
Colum McCann