Quotes from '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, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“I told her tea bags were just a convenience for people with busy lives and she said no one is so busy they can't take time to make a decent cup of tea and if you are that busy you don't deserve a decent cup of tea for what is it all about anyway? Are we put into this world to be busy or to chat over a nice cup of tea?”
― Frank McCourt, quote from '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, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“I can't go back. The past won't go away in this family...”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“Andy says, I don't understand how they can give loans to people who want to spend two weeks lying on the sand at the goddam Jersey shore and then turn down a woman with three kids hanging on by her fingernails.”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“They can afford to smile because they all have teeth so dazzling if they dropped them in the snow they'd be lost forever.”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“Your mind is a treasure house that you should stock well and it’s the one part of you the world can’t interfere with.”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“No one is so busy they can't take time to make a decent cup of tea and if you are that busy you don't deserve a decent cup of tea for what is it all about anyway? Are we put in this world to be busy or to chat over a nice cup of tea?”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“I'm in New York, land of the free and home of the brave, but I'm supposed to behave as if I were in Limerick at all times.”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“I felt so happy I could barely stay in my skin”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“Here I am looking at my lovely ten-year-old daughter, Maggie, in her white dress, singing Protestant hymns with the choir at the Plymouth Church of the Brethren when I should be at Mass praying for the repose of the soul of my mother, Angela McCourt, mother of seven, believer, sinner, though when I contemplate her seventy-three years on this earth I can’t believe the Lord God Almighty on His throne would even dream of consigning her to the flames. A God like that wouldn’t deserve the time of day.”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“But I don't know how I'll ever get a college degree and rise in the world with no high school diploma and eyes like piss holes in the snow, as everyone tells me.”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“The boys from Staten Island would fill more body bags than Stuyvesant could ever imagine. Mechanics and plumbers had to fight while college students shook indignant fists, fornicated in the fields of Woodstock and sat in.”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“Menen Horacen luo ja puristan hänenkin kättään. En pysty sanomaan mitään, koska tunnen jollakin merkillisellä tavalla rakastavani häntä ja toivon että hän olisi isäni, eikä silloin ole helppo puhua. Hän ei sano mitään koska tietää hyvin että tällaisina hetkinä sanoilla ei ole merkitystä. Hän vain taputtaa minua olalle, ja viimeinen mitä Port Warehousesissa kuulen on Eddie Lynchin ääni kun hän sanoo miehille takaisin töihin siitä, senkin vetelä mulkkulauma.”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“Dolores asuu talossa, jonka pienellä etupihalla on neitsyt Marian patsas ja vaaleanpunainen lintupatsas. Seisomme pienen rautaportin luona ja minä en oikein tiedä pitäisikö nyt suudella häntä jolloin hän saattaisi innostua niin että saattaisimme hiippailla jonkin puun taakse kiihotusta harjoittamaan, mutta samassa kuuluu sisältä karjaisu Jumalauta, Dolores, äkkiä sisään sieltä, jo on otsaa kun tuolla lailla perkele pikkutunneilla kotiin lampsitaan, ja sano sille perkeleen turvenuijalle että ottaa jalat alleen ja juoksee henkensä edestä, ja Dolores sanoo vain oi ja juoksee sisään.”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“When the dark clouds flutter like bats in my head I wish I could open a window and release them.”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“Haloo, kuuluuko? Minulla on tässä munakello päällä ja teillä on nyt kolme minuuttia aikaa kertoa miten minä saan nuo perkeleen neiti suo anteeksi pulut kuriin etteivät ne paneskele kaiken aikaa minun ilmastointilaitteeni päällä tuolla ikkunan ulkopuolella. Kaiken päivää saa kuunnella niiden huhuhuuta niin että hulluksi meinaa tulla ja sitten ne paskantavat ikkunat umpeen. Ai ette pysty heti sanomaan? Pitää selvittää ensin? Mitä siinä on selvittämistä? Pulut rietastelevat minun ilmastointilaitteellani ja teidän pitää ruveta selvittämään. Valitan, munakello sanoo että kolme minuuttia on kulunut. Hyvästi.”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“For once, mam, my bladder isn't near my eye and why isn't it?”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

“I'm sitting up in the bed with my knees pulled to my chest and there are tears that won't come to my eyes but beat instead like a small sea around my heart.”
― Frank McCourt, quote from 'Tis A Memoir

About the author

Popular quotes

“And I’d say to myself as I looked so lazily down at the sea:
“There’s nobody else in the world, and the world was made for me.”
― A.A. Milne, quote from The World of Winnie-the-Pooh

“Nikolas.
If it scarred, she was going to be really annoyed.
“Is your control really this good, or are you a secret masochist?” Nikolas asked as he cut the tail of the S, a jagged underline.
“Is this a ritual thing, or are you just a sadist?” she returned, impatient. Though he was enjoying his busywork, he wasn’t focused enough for Sarah to act.
“Both,” he answered, laughing, as he turned to the other arm. “You can ask me to stop any time now.” She understood what he really meant--You can break down and beg. “Or must I continue?”
“Hurry up, would you?” She yawned. “I have to get to the drugstore before it closes. We’re out of Band-Aids at my house.”
― Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, quote from Shattered Mirror

“You won’t get what you want, Rory Swenson, until you see what you need.”
― Wendy Mass, quote from Finally

“A man thinks he can fly, but he is afraid to jump. A poor friend pushes him from behind.” He looks up at me. “A good friend jumps with.”
― Pierce Brown, quote from Morning Star

“Never true,' Old Ben would say. 'Useful- now, there's something. Your mind might make a connection that is useful. But true is another matter. True implies that you have found a connection that exists independent of your apprehension of it, that would exist whether you noticed it or not. And I must say that I have never seen such a connection in my life. There are times when I suspect there are no such connections, that all links, bonds, ties, and similarities are creations of thought and have no substance.”
― Orson Scott Card, quote from Seventh Son

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.