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Before The Famine, Which Was In The 1840s, That Was An Emotional Turning Point... There Are Various Documents Showing How The Elizabethan English, In Particular, Were Shocked By Irish Displays Of Affection, By The Way Women Acted Toward Strangers, Walking Up And Putting Their Arms Around Them And Kissing Them Right Full On The Mouth.

-Frank McCourt

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Before The Famine, Which

Frank McCourt

...

Before The Famine, Which Was In The 1840s, That Was An Emotional Turning Point... There Are Various Documents Showing How The Elizabethan English, In Particular, Were Shocked By Irish Displays Of Affection, By The Way Women Acted Toward Strangers, Walking Up And Putting Their Arms Around Them And Kissing Them Right Full On The Mouth.

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You Feel A Sense Of Urgency, Especially At My Advanced Age, When You're Staring Into The Grave.

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I Think I Settled On The Title Before I Ever Wrote The Book.

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.

I Asked My Dad What Afflicted Meant And He Said 'sickness Son, And Things That Don't Fit.'

Actually, My Mother And Alfie Came For Three Weeks Christmas Vacation And Stayed For 21 Years. I Guess My Mother Never Went Back Because She Was Lonely.

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.

I Learned The Significance Of My Own Insignificant Life.

Shakespeare Is Like Mashed Potatoes, You Can Never Get Enough Of Him.

Mashed Potatoes

I Know That Big People Don't Like Questions From Children. They Can Ask All The Questions They Like, How's School? Are You A Good Boy? Did You Say Your Prayers? But If You Ask Them Did They Say Their Prayers You Might Be Hit On The Head.

I Am For Who I Was In The Beginning But Now Is Present And I Exist In The Future.

I Can't Go Too Much Into My Domestic Life Because There Are Ex-wives Ready To Do Me In.

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?

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.

When I Act Tough They Listen Politely Till The Spasm Passes. They Know.

You Never Know When You Might Come Home And Find Mam Sitting By The Fire Chatting With A Woman And A Child, Strangers. Always A Woman And Child. Mam Finds Them Wandering The Streets And If They Ask, Could You Spare A Few Pennies, Miss? Her Heart Breaks. She Never Has Money So She Invites Them Home For Tea And A Bit Of Fried Bread And If It's A Bad Night She'll Let Them Sleep By The Fire On A Pile Of Rags In The Corner. The Bread She Gives Them Always Means Less For Us And If We Complain She Says There Are Always People Worse Off And We Can Surely Spare A Little From What We Have.

There's Nothing Sillier In The World Than A Teacher Telling You Don't Do It After You Already Did It.

There's So Much Absurdity. Poverty Is So Absurd.

He Sits In An Old Armchair In The Corner Covered With Bits Of Blankets And A Bucket Behind The Chair That Stinks Enough To Make You Sick And When You Look At That Old Man In The Dark Corner You Want To Get A Hose With Hot Water And Strip Him And Wash Him Down And Give Him A Big Feed Of Rashers And Eggs And Mashed Potatoes With Loads Of Butter And Salt And Onions.i Want To Take The Man From The Boer War And The Pile Of Rags In The Bed And Put Them In A Big Sunny House In The Country With Birds Chirping Away Outside The Window And A Stream Gurgling.

First Of All There Is Always That Artistic Challenge Of Creating Something. Or The Particular Experience To Take Slum Life In That Period And Make Something Out Of It In The Form Of A Book. And Then I Felt Some Kind Of Responsibility To My Family.

There’s No Use Saying Anything In The Schoolyard Because There’s Always Someone With An Answer And There’s Nothing You Can Do But Punch Them In The Nose And If You Were To Punch Everyone Who Has An Answer You’d Be Punching Morning Noon And Night.

The English Wouldn't Give You The Steam Of Their Piss.

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I Am Teaching. Storytelling Is Teaching

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I Don't Believe In Happiness Anyway... It's Too Much Of An American Pastime, This Search For Happiness. Just Forget Happiness And Enjoy Your Misery.

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.

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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.

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Just Let Them Sit In The Goddam Sun. But The World Won't Let Them Because There's Nothing More Dangerous Than Letting Old Farts Sit In The Sun. They Might Be Thinking. Same Thing With Kids. Keep 'em Busy Or They Might Start Thinking.

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Before The Famine, Which Was In The 1840s, That Was An Emotional Turning Point... There Are Various Documents Showing How The Elizabethan English, In Particular, Were Shocked By Irish Displays Of Affection, By The Way Women Acted Toward Strangers, Walking Up And Putting Their Arms Around Them And Kissing Them Right Full On The Mouth.

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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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