Quote

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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Colum McCann
Age: 59
Born: 1965
Born: February 28
Academic
Journalist
Novelist
Screenwriter
Writer
Dublin city
Thing
Way
People
Eventually
Listen
Stories

More quotes by Colum McCann

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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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With all respects to heaven, I like it here.
Colum McCann
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The real beauty in life is that beauty can sometimes occur.
Colum McCann
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One small cloud, cast out by the herd, limps away to the west.
Colum McCann
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There are fewer and fewer Jews in Ireland, but we still have one of the most famous Jewish characters in literary history, of course, in Leopold Bloom.
Colum McCann
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I grew up sort of middle class, safe and suburban.
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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Part of the beauty of fiction is that we come alive in a body that we don't own.
Colum McCann
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There is always room for at least two truths.
Colum McCann
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The Irish are great for their tunes, but all their lovesongs are sad and their warsongs happy.
Colum McCann
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I gave them all the truth and none of the honesty.
Colum McCann
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She likes the people with the endurance to tolerate the drudge, the ones who know that pain is a requirement, not a curse.
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
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The person we know at first, she thinks, is not the one we know at last.
Colum McCann
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We have to admire the world for not ending on us.
Colum McCann
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Cynicism is easy. An optimist is a braver cynic.
Colum McCann
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The world does not turn without moments of grace. Who cares how small.
Colum McCann
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Memory has a heavy backspin, yet it’s still impossible to land exactly where we took off.
Colum McCann
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If they ask you to stand still, you should dance.
Colum McCann
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A book is completed only when it is finished by a reader.
Colum McCann