For example, it's only about 20 years ago the people in that community would have got telephone lines, and it would be only about in the 1950s that electricity came to that part of the world. Television wouldn't have come…

Quote by John McGahern

Topics: John McGahern Quotes

The way I see it is that all the ol' guff about being Irish is...

The way I see it is that all the ol' guff about being Irish is...

I think fiction is a very serious thing, that while it is fiction, it is...

I think fiction is a very serious thing, that while it is fiction, it is...

We absolutely believed in Heaven and Hell, Purgatory, and even Limbo. I mean, they were...

We absolutely believed in Heaven and Hell, Purgatory, and even Limbo. I mean, they were...

I think that each of us inhabits a private world that others cannot see. The...

I think that each of us inhabits a private world that others cannot see. The...

I love the description of Gothic churches before the printed word, that they were the...

I love the description of Gothic churches before the printed word, that they were the...

I feel I grew up in a different century than I live in. I think...

I feel I grew up in a different century than I live in. I think...

Ireland is a peculiar society in the sense that it was a nineteenth century society...

Ireland is a peculiar society in the sense that it was a nineteenth century society...

I belong to the middle class that grew up very influenced by the Catholic church....

I belong to the middle class that grew up very influenced by the Catholic church....

I think there's a great difference in consciousness in that same way in that when...

I think there's a great difference in consciousness in that same way in that when...

When you're in danger of losing a thing it becomes precious and when it's around...

When you're in danger of losing a thing it becomes precious and when it's around...

I read all the time. I was reading a book I admire very much by...

I read all the time. I was reading a book I admire very much by...

I think it's linked to the realisation that we're not going to live forever and...

I think it's linked to the realisation that we're not going to live forever and...

My father was very outwardly religious.

My father was very outwardly religious.

When I start to write, words have become physical presence. It was to see if...

When I start to write, words have become physical presence. It was to see if...

Amongst Women concentrated on the family, and the new book concentrates on a small community....

Amongst Women concentrated on the family, and the new book concentrates on a small community....

I've never written anything that hasn't been in my mind for a long time -...

I've never written anything that hasn't been in my mind for a long time -...

I think technique can be taught but I think the only way to learn to...

I think technique can be taught but I think the only way to learn to...

Everything that we inherit, the rain, the skies, the speech, and anybody who works in...

Everything that we inherit, the rain, the skies, the speech, and anybody who works in...

When I was in my 20s it did occur to me that there was something...

When I was in my 20s it did occur to me that there was something...

Yes, but also one of the problems for a novelist in Ireland is the fact...

Yes, but also one of the problems for a novelist in Ireland is the fact...