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" That's what kept us going - a sense of absurdity, rather than humor. "
Frank McCourt
Going
Absurdity
Us
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" 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. "
Frank McCourt
Top
Way
Nothing
" I think there's something about the Irish experience - that we had to have a sense of humor or die. "
Frank McCourt
Humor
Think
Die
" We never really had any kind of a Christmas. This is one part where my memory fails me completely. "
Frank McCourt
Memory
Christmas
Had
" I think I settled on the title before I ever wrote the book. "
Frank McCourt
I Think
Book
Title
" A funeral was a great form of entertainment. A wake was a great form of entertainment. "
Frank McCourt
Funeral
Great
Entertainment
" My childhood here... was very limited. So it was a long, long time before I actually went out to Brooklyn. "
Frank McCourt
Long Time
Time
Childhood
" 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.' "
Frank McCourt
Sail
New York
God
" Teachers have a million stories, but nobody consults them. "
Frank McCourt
Them
Million
Stories
" Scatter my ashes on the Shannon. "
Frank McCourt
Scatter
Ashes
" I thought everything would be different in America. It wasn't. "
Frank McCourt
Be Different
Thought
Would
" When I got out of the army, I had the G.I. Bill. Since I had no high school education or anything like that, I came to NYU, and they took a chance on me and let me in. "
Frank McCourt
School
Chance
Education
" One day a week should be set aside for field trips. "
Frank McCourt
Field
Should
Trips
" We've had enough of the generals and movie stars. We want to hear about the ordinary people. "
Frank McCourt
Stars
Enough
Generals
" On the last day of my teaching career, I was sitting in my apartment, having a glass of wine, thinking I'm glad I did it, that I had been somehow useful, that I had learned something. "
Frank McCourt
Day
Career
Wine
" The day I write my last word will be the day that I feel free. "
Frank McCourt
Will
Write
Day
" People come up to me and talk about the alcoholism in their family. "
Frank McCourt
People
Family
Come
" People want real-life stories. "
Frank McCourt
Stories
People
Real-Life
" I'm more interested in writing than in performing. "
Frank McCourt
Interested
More
Performing
" I've had experiences on both sides of the ocean and various classrooms and bedrooms around New York. "
Frank McCourt
New York
Ocean
Sides
" When I came to America, I dreamed bigger dreams. "
Frank McCourt
Dreams
America
Bigger
" I loved reading and writing, and teaching was the most exalted profession I could imagine. "
Frank McCourt
Writing
Imagine
Loved
" Some, like Mother Teresa, are born with a gene to help the poor, and some are born with a gene to write. I was born with a gene to tell my story, and I just had to. "
Frank McCourt
Tell
Born
Help
" 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. "
Frank McCourt
Own
Life
Journalism
" 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. "
Frank McCourt
Nothing
New York
Baseball
" 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. "
Frank McCourt
America
Good
Food
" I can't go too much into my domestic life because there are ex-wives ready to do me in. "
Frank McCourt
Ready
Life
Too Much
" We were below welfare. We begged from people on welfare. My father tried to repair our shoes with pieces of bicycle tires. "
Frank McCourt
Shoes
Bicycle
Father
" I think there are two cities in the world - New York and Rome. "
Frank McCourt
World
Rome
New
" You're beginning to hear the tale of the common man and woman rather than the traditional memoir about the generals who just finished the war or the politicians who just rendered glorious service to the country. "
Frank McCourt
Beginning
Service
Man
" It gives me a very keen satisfaction that, after listening to my blather all those years, former students are now seeing that I wrote a book, that I did have it in me. "
Frank McCourt
Book
Listening
Seeing