I work very deliberately, with a plan. But sometimes I come to a point that I planned as the end and it needs softening. Ending a novel is almost like putting a child to sleep - it can't be done abruptly.
Colm ToibinRead
It may be enough to study history in all its nuance and ambiguity for its own sake. But there is no country free of the need to find new ways of reading the past as an inspiring way of thinking about everything else, including the present.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Studying history can offer insights that inspire current thinking and actions.
Colm Toibin emphasizes the value of understanding history not just as a static record but as a dynamic source of inspiration that can influence our present and future. He suggests that every country must learn to interpret its past creatively, using historical insights to inform contemporary thought and actions.
Themes
HistoryPresentInspirationUnderstandingNuance
In practice
Example use cases
In a seminar about historical analysis, one might quote Toibin to stress the relevance of history in shaping modern ideologies.
More from Colm Toibin
All quotes →You create a world away from home and make new rooms for yourself. But when you arrive back home in your old rooms, the world you've made for yourself ceases to be real. Everything seems to crumble. Anyone who's been sent away to boarding school can understand that.
Colm ToibinRead
History is a way of interpreting, rather than, say, knowing, the past. It is usually a set of disputes between those who have access to the same sources. It depends on ideology as much as voting in an election does.
Colm ToibinRead
Some of our loves and attachments are elemental and beyond our choosing, and for that very reason they come spiced with pain and regret and need and hollowness and a feeling as close to anger as I will ever be able to manage.
Colm ToibinRead
People love talking about writers as storytellers, but I hate being called that: it suggests I got it from my grandmother or something, when my writing really comes out of silence. If a storyteller came up to me, I'd run away.
Colm ToibinRead
It really matters to writers to find and treasure readers, all the more when they're on the other side of the world.
Colm ToibinRead
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