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Pat Conroy
84 quotes
“The Southern school superintendent is a kind of remote deity who breathes the purer air of Mount Parnassus. The teachers see him only on those august occasions when they need to be reminded of the nobility of their calling. The powers of a superintendent are considerable. He hires and fires, manipulates the board of education, handles a staggering amount of money, and maintains the precarious existence of the status quo.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lightning flashed around the island; thunder played its favorite game of scaring the crap out of all the shivering mortals on the earth below.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Christ must do a lot of puking when he reflects upon the good works done in his name.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There were these deep, serious thoughts I sometimes had to drive from my head like flocks of pesky starlings. I was too pragmatic and impatient to let such thoughts flog me into impotence, yet I sincerely needed a working philosophy on which to hang my hat. After the Halloween trip, one began to form and crystallize without my knowledge, and when I finally acknowledged its presence, it was already a part of me: simply, that life was good, but it was hard; we would prepare to meet it head on, but we would enjoy the preparation.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And in that instant was born the terrible awareness that life eventually broke every man, but in different ways and at different times.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I learned that politicians are not supposed to help people. They simply listen to people, nod their heads painfully, commiserate at proper intervals, promise to do all they can, and then do nothing. It was very instructive. I could probably have enlisted more action from a bleached jellyfish washed ashore in a seasonal storm.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Teaching is a record of failures. But the glory of teaching is in the attempt.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The full moon hung low, a fresh coin that threw its silver grandly on the water in a ribbon that dazzled for a thousand miles.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've never had anybody's approval, so I've learned to live without it.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Always believe in things and people that bring you pleasure. What good does it do to throw those things out the window?”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sports show you your limits. Sports teach humility. Sooner or later the athlete becomes humble no matter how good he is. But he plays until he has reached as high as he can.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wear the ring.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have never had to look up a definition of honor. I knew instinctively what it was. It is something I had the day I was born, and I never had to question where it came from or by what right it was mine. If I was stripped of my honor, I would choose death as certainly and unemotionally as I clean my shoes in the morning. Honor is the presence of God in man.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I loved these salt rivers more than I loved the sea; I loved the movement of tides more than I loved the fury of surf. Something in me was congruent with this land, something affirmed when I witnessed the startled, piping rush of shrimp or the flash of starlight on the scales of mullet. I could feel myself relax and change whenever I returned to the lowcountry and saw the vast green expanses of marsh, feminine as lace, delicate as calligraphy. The lowcountry had its own special ache and sting.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I didn't get the point," said Pig. "That's because you've got four pounds of provolone where most people got brains!" Mark shouted, shaking his fist. "This is college, you dumb bastard. This is a place where you're supposed to argue and learn and get pissed off. You don't go around choking your buddies just because they don't happen to believe what you believe.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Evil would always come to me disguised in systems and dignified by law.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bad teachers do not touch me; the great ones never leave me. They ride with me during all my days, and I pass on to others what they have imparted to me. I exchange their handy gifts with strangers on trains, and I pretend the gifts are mine. I steal from the great teachers. And the truly wonderful thing about them is that they would applaud my theft, laugh at the thought of it, realizing that they had taught me their larcenous skills well.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When the ceremony was over, I found The Bear and handed him my diploma along with a ballpoint pen. "What's this for, lamb?" "I want you to sign it, Colonel. I want you to make it official," I answered. "I want the name of a man I can respect on my diploma, Colonel." He handed me back the diploma without signing it. "There already is, Bubba," he answered. "There already is." And he pointed to my name.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would 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 pocket knife, feed it to you from the shell and say, "There. That taste. That's the taste of my childhood." I would say, "Breathe deeply," and you would breathe and remember that smell for the rest of your life. That bold aroma of the tidal marsh, exquisite and sensual, the smell of the South in heat, a smell like new milk and spilled wine, all perfumed with sea water.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In families, there are no crimes beyond forgiveness.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man wonders but God decides / When to kill the Prince of Tides.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“These are the quicksilver moments of my childhood I cannot remember entirely. Irresistible and emblematic, I can recall them only in fragments and shivers of the heart.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The only word for goodness is goodness, and it is not enough.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I lived with the terrible knowledge that one day I would be an old man still waiting for my real life to start. Already, I pitied that old man.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But no one walks out of his family without reprisals: a family is too disciplined an army to offer compassion to its deserters.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's politics, sugarpeeps," I said. "It makes everybody stupid. When you grow up, you'll know what I mean.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The water was pure and cold and came out of the Apennines tasting like snow melted in the hands of a pretty girl.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I do not know why it is that I have always been happier thinking of somewhere I have been or wanted to go, than where I am at the time. I find it difficult to be happy in the present.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The best thing about a small town is that you grow up knowing everyone. It is also the worst thing.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fantasy is one of the soul's brighter porcelains.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[...] I learned from those evening recitals that music could ache and hurt, that beautiful music was a place a suffering man could hide.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Carolina beach music," Dupree said, coming up on the porch. "The holiest sound on earth.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One can do anything, anything at all, I thought, if provided with a passionate and gifted teacher.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In silence, we watched the water shimmer like a peacock's feather in that shining foil of soft tide in retreat.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The children of fighter pilots tell different stories than other kids do. None of our fathers can write a will or sell a life insurance policy or fill out a prescription or administer a flu shot or explain what a poet meant.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don Conroy was larger than life and there was never a room he entered that he left without making his mark. At some point in his life, he passed from being merely memorably to being legendary.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don Conroy died with exemplary courage, as one would expect. He never complained about pain or whimpered or cried out. His death was stoical and quiet. He never quit fighting, never surrendered, and never gave up. He died like a king. He died like The Great Santini. I thank you with all my heart.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If not for sports, I do not think my father would have ever talked to me.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The great teachers fill you up with hope and shower you with a thousand reasons to embrace all aspects of life.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no teacher more discriminating or transforming than loss.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My passion for eating springs from a childhood not deprived of food but deprived of good food.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Home is a damaged word, bruisable as fruit, in the cruel glossaries of the language I choose to describe the long, fearful march of my childhood.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Stories have always hunted me down, jumped out at me from the shadows, stalked me and sought me out, grabbed me by the shirtsleeves, and demanded my full attention. I’ve led a life chock-full of stories, and I know now that you have to be shifty and vigilant and ready to receive their incoming fire.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You have never been blessed out or bawled out or chewed out unless you got it from The Boo in his prime. Did I say he was five times louder than God? I'm sorry if that sounds sacrilegious and it certainly is not true. The Boo was at least ten times louder than God and I was scared of him my entire cadet career.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There was only one cadet I ever really hated. Just one name I can think of," The Boo said. "That'll make an interesting story for the book, Colonel. Who is the jerk?" I asked. "It was you, Conroy. Just you. There was something about you that I hated when you first walked into fourth battalion, you worthless bum.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I was writing The Lords of Discipline, I went to The Boo for help. "What makes The Citadel different from all other schools? What makes it different, special and unique? Why do I think it is the best college in the world when I hated it when I was here, Boo? Help me with this." The Boo held up his hand and said, "It's the ring, Bubba. Always remember that. The ring, the ring, the ring." I thought about it for a moment then wrote the words, "I wear the ring." "How about this for a first line?" "Perfect, Bubba, just perfect.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The tide was a poem that only time could create, and I watched it stream and brim and makes its steady dash homeward, to the ocean.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Humanity is best described as inhumanity.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You must appreciate beauty for it to endure [...]”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source