Frank McCourt

Frank McCourt

19-Aug-1930


United States


Writer

Publishing an incident in 1996 her account of Ireland's difficult childhood, Angela's Ashes, on the New York Times bestseller list for 117 weeks, gave the 67-year-old teacher retirement in wealth and fame. In 1997, Angela's Ashes won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the LA Times Book Award. Born in Brooklyn in the Depression-era, McCourt's parents moved to Limerick when he was four. Before leaving the family, McCourt's alcoholic father instilled in his son a love for storytelling. At 19 years old, McCourt returned to New York and his subsequent American ways are recounted in 'Tis (1999) and Pastor Man (2005). Angela's Ashes was turned into a big screen in 1999 and Emily Watson starred. McCourt lives in New York City and Connecticut with his third wife, Ellen.

QUOTES BY Frank McCourt


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

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

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

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“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. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”

“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”

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