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" My dream was to have a Library of Congress catalogue number, that's all. "

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" There's nothing in the world like getting up in front of a high-school classroom in New York City. They won't give you a break if you don't hold them. There's no escape. "

" I couldn't even pick up the newspaper without saying, 'This is a fine piece of writing. I wish to hell I could write like this.' "

" They tell me I'm on 'Politically Incorrect' with Ollie North. That should be a lot of fun. "

" I just have to proceed as usual. No matter what happens, nothing helps with the writing of the next book. "

" When I was a teacher, I'd walk into the classroom. I stood at the board. I was the man. I directed operations. I was an intellectual and artistic and moral traffic cop, and I - and I would direct the class, most of the time. "

" If I had millions and millions and millions of dollars, I'd leave a large portion to the 42nd Street library. That's why - that was my hangout, the reading rooms, the North and South reading rooms. I'd go there, and my God, I couldn't believe I had access to all of these books. That was my university. "

" Just luxuriate in a certain memory, and the details will come. It's like a magnet attracting steel filings. "

" At 66, you're supposed to die or get hemorrhoids. "

" You sail into the harbor, and Staten Island is on your left, and then you see the Statue of Liberty. This is what everyone in the world has dreams of when they think about New York. And I thought, 'My God, I'm in Heaven. I'll be dancing down Fifth Avenue like Fred Astaire with Ginger Rogers.' "

" The happy childhood is hardly worth your while. "

Happy Childhood

" I couldn't fit in the Irish community in New York. I was never one of the boys because they would talk about baseball or basketball, and I knew nothing about it. "

" I would dream of going up to the 'New York Times' and asking them if I could please be a copy boy or let me scrub the toilets or something like that. But I couldn't rise to those heights. "

" Every life is a mystery. There is nobody whose life is normal and boring. "

" The main thing I am interested in is my experience as a teacher. "

" Autobiography should be more stringent. It should adhere more to the standards of journalism - assuming that journalism has the truth. The memoir gives you more scope, is more poetic, and allows you to play around with your own life. "

" I hated school in Ireland. "

" I had no accomplishments except surviving. But that isn't enough in the community where I came from, because everybody was doing it. So I wasn't prepared for America, where everybody is glowing with good teeth and good clothes and food. "

" We had nothing, no television, no radio, nothing to get in the way. We read by the streetlight at the top of the lane, and we acted out the stories. "

" Happiness is hard to recall. Its just a glow. "

" I can do no more than tell the truth. "

" Something happened when the memoirs of so-called ordinary people, like myself, suddenly hit the bestseller list. "

" I don't see myself as either Irish or American, I'm a New Yorker. "

" Early in my teaching days, the kids asked me the meaning of a poem. I replied, 'I don't know any more than you do. I have ideas. What are your ideas?' I realized then that we're all in the same boat. What does anybody know? "

" When I came to America, I dreamed bigger dreams. "

" When I was a kid, I was a pretty good runner, and there was nothing like winning a race. "

" You feel a sense of urgency, especially at my advanced age, when you're staring into the grave. "

" I had never attended high school, but I was fairly well read. "

" Ireland, once you live there, you're seduced by it. "

" A funeral was a great form of entertainment. A wake was a great form of entertainment. "

" My childhood here... was very limited. So it was a long, long time before I actually went out to Brooklyn. "