I've always found paranoia to be a perfectly defensible position. Pat Conroy More Quotes by Pat Conroy More Quotes From Pat Conroy College was to teach me that I was one of life's journeymen, eager to excel but lacking the requisite gifts. Pat Conroy lacking teach college Even today, I hunt for the fabulous books that will change me utterly. I find myself happiest in the middle of a book which I forget that I am reading, but am instead immersed in a made-up life lived at the highest pitch. Pat Conroy reading today book We children sat transfixed before that moon our mother had called forth from the waters. When the moon had reached its deepest silver, my sister, Savannah, though only three, cried aloud to our mother, to Luke and me, to the river and the moon, "Oh, Mama, do it again!" And I had my earliest memory. Pat Conroy mother memories children I've always believed that dreams were both the love letters and the hate mail of the subconscious. Pat Conroy hate dream letters A family is one of nature's solubles; it dissolves in time like salt in rainwater. Pat Conroy rainwater salt Reading is the most rewarding form of exile and the most necessary discipline for novelists who burn with the ambition to get better. Pat Conroy reading ambition writing 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 have to like that trend or go along with it. Pat Conroy fashion doe mean The safe places could only be visited; they could only grant a momentary intuition of sanctuary. The moment always came when we had to return to our real life to face the wounds and grief indigenous to our homr by the river. Pat Conroy grief real rivers My father wouldn't let me take typing in childhood. Pat Conroy childhood let-me father Saints make wonderful grandfathers and lousy husbands. Pat Conroy saint husband grandfather I can't pass a bookstore without slipping inside, looking for the next book that will burn my hand when I touch its jacket, or hand me over a promissory note of such immense power that it contains the formula that will change everything about me. Pat Conroy next book hands Those wishing to be successful in the market can't ignore the boomer numbers, the wealth and spending power they have. Pat Conroy successful wish numbers Paranoia has a sharper taste if the danger is real. Pat Conroy paranoia taste real I learned that if I could read, I could cook. I surprised myself I like it. Pat Conroy if-i-could cooks ifs ... the wing of a fly is proof enough of the existence of God for me. Pat Conroy enough god wings Writing poetry and reading books causes brain damage. Pat Conroy reading writing book My mother thought of my father as half barbarian and half blunt instrument, and she isolated him from his children. Pat Conroy mother father children Her laughter was a shiny thing, like pewter flung high in the air. Pat Conroy laughter air laughing Fantasy is one of the soul's brighter porcelains. Pat Conroy porcelain fantasy soul She was one of those Southerners who knew from an early age that the South could never be more for them than a fragrant prison, administered by a collective of loving but treacherous relatives. Pat Conroy collectives prison age