Good writing ... involves the agony of turning profoundly difficult thoughts into lucid form, then forcing them into the tight-fitting uniform of language, making them visible and clear. Pat Conroy More Quotes by Pat Conroy More Quotes From Pat Conroy American men are allotted just as many tears as American women. But because we are forbidden to shed them, we die long before women do, with our hearts exploding or our blood pressure rising or our livers eaten away by alcohol because that lake of grief inside us has no outlet. We, men, die because our faces were not watered enough. Pat Conroy women grief patience To describe our growing up in the lowcountry of South Carolina, I would have to take you to the marsh on a spring day, flush the great blue heron from its silent occupation, scatter marsh hens as we sink to our knees in mud, open an oyster with a pocketknife and feed it to you from the shell and say, 'There. That taste. That's the taste of my childhood.' Pat Conroy growing-up spring memories Why do they not teach you that time is a finger snap and an eye blink, and that you should not allow a moment to pass you by without taking joyous, ecstatic note of it, not wasting a single moment of its swift, breakneck circuit? Pat Conroy eye mindfulness live-in-the-moment Charleston has a landscape that encourages intimacy and partisanship. I have heard it said that an inoculation to the sights and smells of the Carolina lowcountry is an almost irreversible antidote to the charms of other landscapes, other alien geographies. You can be moved profoundly by other vistas, by other oceans, by soaring mountain ranges, but you can never be seduced. You can even forsake the lowcountry, renounce it for other climates, but you can never completely escape the sensuous, semitropical pull of Charleston and her marshes. Pat Conroy mountain-ranges ocean sight There's no word in the language I revere more than 'teacher.' My heart sings when a kid refers to me as his teacher, and it always has. I've honored myself and the entire family of man by becoming a teacher. Pat Conroy teaching heart teacher It's impossible to explain to a Yankee what `tacky' is. They simply have no word for it up north, but my God, do they ever need one. Pat Conroy up-north tacky yankees Teach them the quiet words of kindness, to live beyond themselves. Urge them toward excellence, drive them toward gentleness, pull them deep into yourself, pull them upward toward manhood, but softly like an angel arranging clouds. Let your spirit move through them softly. Pat Conroy angel kindness moving I was born and raised on a Carolina sea island and I carried the sunshine of the low-country, inked in dark gold, on my back and shoulders. Pat Conroy sunshine dark country Books are living things and their task lies in their vows of silence. You touch them as they quiver with a divine pleasure. You read them and they fall asleep to happy dreams for the next 10 years. If you do them the favor of understanding them, of taking in their portions of grief and wisdom, then they settle down in contented residence in your heart. Pat Conroy grief dream lying The most powerful words in English are 'Tell me a story,' words that are intimately related to the complexity of history, the origins of language, the continuity of the species, the taproot of our humanity, our singularity, and art itself. I was born into the century in which novels lost their stories, poems their rhymes, paintings their form, and music its beauty, but that does not mean I had to like that trend or go along with it. I fight against these movements with every book I write. Pat Conroy powerful book art The most powerful words in English are, 'Tell me a story.' Pat Conroy singularity powerful stories I stood face to face with the moon and the ocean and the future that spread out with all its bewildering immensity before me. Pat Conroy ocean moon faces One can learn anything, anything at all, I thought, if provided by a gifted and passionate teacher. Pat Conroy gifted passionate teacher I’ve never had anyone’s approval, so I’ve learned to live without it. Pat Conroy ive-learned approval Here is all I ask of a book- give me everything. Everything, and don't leave out a single word. Pat Conroy single-word giving book Without music, life is a journey through a desert. Pat Conroy desert music journey Like everything else, love's not worth much without some action to back it up. Pat Conroy action My soul found ease and rest in the companionship of books. Pat Conroy soul ease book I'd be a conservative if I'd never met any. They're selfish, mean-spirited, egocentric, reactionary, and boring. Pat Conroy conservative selfish mean Each divorce is the death of a small civilization. Pat Conroy divorce marriage civilization
