478 Quotes by Pat Conroy

I was becoming convinced that the world was a colorful, variegated grab bag full of bastards. But.

The world of literature has everything in it, and it refuses to leave.

I’ve never cackled with laughter at a single line I’ve ever written. None of it has given me pleasure.

My pre-Yamacraw theory of teaching held several sacred tenets, among these being that the teacher must always maintain an air of insanity, or of eccentricity out of control, if he is to catch and hold the attention of his students. The teacher must always be on the attack, looking for new ideas, changing worn-out tactics, and never, ever falling into patterns that lead to student ennui.

I would like to have seen the world with eyes incapable of anything but wonder, and with a tongue fluent only in praise.

Think instead about children. People. Human beings. Feel for once that education is about people – not figures.

Even then, her interior life was far more important to her than her external one.

When I was in a kitchen I could no longer feel the pressure of the world on my shoulders; for me cooking has always been a high form of play, and teaching someone how to make a meal memorable was a combination of thrill and gift that I never tired of giving.

The reading of great books has been a life altering activity to me and, for better or worse, it brought me singing and language-obsessed to that country where I make my living. Except for teaching, I’ve had no other ambition in life than to write books that mattered.