Frank McCourt

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while.”

“You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.”

“Stock your mind. It is your house of treasure and no one in the world can interfere with it.”

“Sing your song. Dance your dance. Tell your tale.”

“After a full belly all is poetry.”

“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.”

“Keep scribbling! Something will happen.”

“It’s a good thing to have a dream, as long as you don’t make a dream your master.”

“Humor is a necessity, a way of surviving. And it's fun.”

“I don't know what it is about the Irish. We think we have to be funny.”

“It’s lovely to know that the world can’t interfere with the inside of your head.”

“Writing is my therapy. My psychiatrist, my everything.”

“You can't teach writing. You can only inspire.”

“The universe is my school. My teacher is my experience.”

“A mother's body remembers her babies—the folds of soft flesh, the softly furred scalp against her nose.”