Frank McCourt Quotes

When I knew nothing, I thought I could do anything.

I never thought that I couldn't do what I set out to do. It wasn't from arrogance; it was from ignorance.

The people of those foreign countries are very, very ignorant. They looked curiously at the costumes we had brought from the wilds of America. They observed that we talked loudly at table sometimes. They noticed that we looked out for expenses and got what we conveniently could out of a franc, and wondered where in the mischief we came from. In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.

It's only because of their stupidity that they're able to be so sure of themselves.

The gentle reader will never, never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad.

The fool has one great advantage over a man of sense; he is always satisfied with himself.

I don't understand anything about America's culture.

You know when you're young, you have this unbelievable stupidity and arrogance and ignorance all mixed in?

I've been asked a lot lately what message is there in the Lusitania for the modern day. To be honest, not much. Except that maybe hubris and overconfidence are always dangerous things.

Ignorance makes you very bold.

When you're a teenager, you think you're invincible. You don't listen to anyone.

One of the great things about being ignorant is that I often think my ideas are original. It's a wonderful feeling. That's why I try to avoid any knowledge that would spoil the sensation. Sometimes it isn't easy. People keep hurling knowledge at me, and I can't always duck.

We think we know what's right. With excessive pride comes blindness.

The more you think you know, the more closed-minded you'll be.

Thinking you know when in fact you don't is a fatal mistake, to which we are all prone

People are never so near playing the fool as when they think themselves wise.

It is with nations as with individuals, those who know the least of others think the highest of themselves; for the whole family of pride and ignorance are incestuous, and mutually beget each other.

My first time I jacked off, I thought I'd invented it. I looked down at my sloppy handful of junk and thought, This is going to make me rich.

Inexperience loves to preach.

Those that know the least of others think the highest of themselves.

When you think you know something: that is a most perfect barrier against learning.

If you think you know it all, you are missing something.

You may have noticed that the less I know about a subject the more confidence I have, and the more new light I throw on it.

Nobody knows diddly. They just think they do. And the people that think they know the most know the least.

When you think you know it all, there's not much that you'll learn.