Frank McCourt Quotes

I never set out to do this - getting to No. 1 in the 'New York Times' bestseller list wasn't even a pipedream.

Making the best-seller list is a big deal; it's like being nominated for an Oscar. Hitting No. 1 is like actually winning the award. It's very gratifying.

I can't say that winning the Pen/Faulkner was a dream come true because I would never have dared to dream it.

I'm glad a genre writer has got a knighthood, but stunned that it was me.

I'm very proud of the fact that I'm one of Britain's biggest selling poets. That gives me a huge amount of pleasure.

There's something very strange about associating me with that prize. I had hoped for it in a more directed way as a journalist. Somehow as a journalist you know there are Pulitzers out there and you can work hard and get one. To win it for Fiction seems unbelievable.

I'm a writer. I never expected to be recognised on the street. I never expected to get that kind of coverage, good or bad. I never expected to sell as many books as I have.

Is the prestige conferred by the Man Booker prize for the book or me? I would prefer it on the book and for me to be treated ordinarily.

I am, incidentally, the only writer to have received the Somerset Maugham award twice - the first time for my first novel, the second time for my second first novel.

I've interviewed presidents and royalty, rock stars and movie stars, famous generals and captains of industry; I've had front row seats at Super Bowls, World Series, and Olympic Games; my books have been on best-seller lists, and my marriage is a long-running success.

Publication in 'The New Yorker' meant everything, and it's no exaggeration to say that it changed my life.

If I can hit No. 1 on the 'New York Times' best-seller list, I'm thinking of having the entire list tattooed on my body somewhere. It would be fabulous.

When 'Twilight' hit the New York Times bestseller list at number 5, for me that was the pinnacle, that was the moment. I never thought I would be there. And I keep having moments like that where you just stop and say, wait a minute - how is this still going up? I'm waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under me.

I'm not going to give it the big 'I am' now that I'm a New York Times bestseller.

I made the cover of 'Sports Illustrated,' 'Newsweek' and 'Time' all in one week, and I didn't even know what that meant.

I hate to tell you this, but I did not know what the National Book Award was when I got the call.

Winning the Whitbread was a very major thing for me. I'd always been well reviewed, but this made me widely read.

My mom just didn't put a very high premium on me being like really famous or really wealthy or anything.

I hope I can make Pakistan proud by bringing home an Oscar.

I've photographed just about everyone in the world. But what I hope to do is photograph people of accomplishment, not celebrity, and help define the difference once again.

There are writers who go their whole lives and never hit that No. 1 spot.

I do not care for the money, just for the glory.

What would have become of me if no one had wanted to read my books? And don't forget all those who have written of me.

'Strictly' is a bit like scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup Final or sinking the final putt in the Ryder Cup - only a few people get the opportunity to do it, and they have got to be famous.

I've been nominated for Academy Awards, I know what I'm doing.