I think there's something about the Irish experience - that
we had to have a sense of humor or die. That's what kept us
going - a sense of absurdity, rather than humor.
Frank McCourt |
I would have liked to have spent more time in Limerick as
I have some unfinished emotional business with Limerick. I would
have liked to annoy a few people.
Frank McCourt
Said on his deathbed, according to his
brother Malachy. |
When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived it
all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood
is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable
childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is
the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.
. . . nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty;
the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the pious defeated
mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bullying schoolmasters;
the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight
hundred long years.
Frank McCourt
Opening passages of Angela's Ashes memoir. |
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, but
as far as the institution of the church is concerned, I think
it is despicable.
Frank McCourt |
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 now I just have nothing
but contempt for the institution of the church.
Frank McCourt |
And, of course, they've always condemned dancing. You know,
you might touch a member of the opposite sex. And you might
get excited and you might do something natural.
Frank McCourt |
George Bernard Shaw said those that can do, and those that
can't teach. Just goes to show that Shaw didn't know his arse
from his elbow about teaching.
Frank McCourt |
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 clay.
Frank McCourt
Chapter 1, Angela's Ashes. |
The master says it's a glorious thing to die for the Faith
and Dad says it's a glorious thing to die for Ireland and I
wonder if there's anyone in the world who would like us to live.
My brothers are dead and my sister is dead and I wonder if they
died for Ireland or the Faith. Dad says they were too young
to die for anything. Mam says it was disease and starvation
and him never having a job. Dad says, Och, Angela, puts on his
cap and goes for a long walk.
Frank McCourt
Chapter 4, Angela's Ashes. |
I don't know what it means and I don't care because it's Shakespeare
and it's like having jewels in my mouth when I say the words.
Frank McCourt
Chapter 8, Angela's Ashes. |
It’s lovely to know that the world can’t interfere
with the inside of your head.
Frank McCourt
Chapter 8, Angela's Ashes. |
You have to study and learn so that you can make up your own
mind about history and everything else but you can’t make
up an empty mind. Stock your mind, stock your mind. It is your
house of treasure and no one in the world can interfere with
it.
Frank McCourt
The headmaster Mr. O'Halloran, Chapter
8, Angela's Ashes. |
I appealed to my mother. I told her it wasn't
fair the way the whole family was invading my dreams and she
said, Arrah, for the love o' God, drink your tea and go to school
and stop tormenting us with your dreams.
Frank McCourt
'Tis: a Memoir. |
You, the privileged, the chosen, the pampered, with nothing
to do but go to school, hang out, do a little studying, go to
college, get into a money-making racket, grow into your fat
forties, still whining, still complaining, when there are millions
around the world who'd offer fingers and toes to be in your
seats, nicely clothed, well fed, with the world by the balls.
Frank McCourt
'Tis: a Memoir. |
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 hadn't invented the hyphen.
Frank McCourt
'Tis: a Memoir. |
After a full belly all is poetry.
Frank McCourt
'Tis: a Memoir. |
If you were mean to your parents, they'd give you a good belt
in the gob and send you flying across the room.
Frank McCourt
Teacher Man. |
|
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 me to just crawl out of it, like a snake leaving his skin
behind.
Frank McCourt
|
I've been writing in notebooks for 40 years or so.
Frank McCourt |
We never really had any kind of a Christmas. This is one part
where my memory fails me completely.
Frank McCourt |
You feel a sense of urgency, especially at my advanced age,
when you're staring into the grave.
Frank McCourt |
I wouldn’t like to be incapacitated or handicapped or
die of a slow disease. I don’t want to be beholden to anyone
or have anyone wiping my mouth if I’m drooling. I’d
just like to go. I don’t want funeral services or memorials.
Let them scatter my ashes over the Shannon and pollute the river.
If you live past 65 you’re responsible to the rest of humanity
to pass on your insights, that’s why you’re allowed
to live a little longer. So if I’m here, there’s a
reason I’m here.
Frank McCourt |
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