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100 Pat Conroy Quotes That Will Always Live In Your Memory

Famous As: Writer
Born On: October 26, 1945
Died On: March 4, 2016
Born In: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Died At Age: 70

Despite experiencing a traumatic childhood, some people overcome the bad memories of their life and take it as a source of inspiration to perform better in life. Pat Conroy, born as Donald Patrick Conroy was one such personality and inspired us with his writing. He was a renowned American author and wrote 14 novels and memoirs that were heavily inspired by his brutal childhood. He experienced difficulties with his own father, who was a sadistic fighter plane pilot. His father hit his mother and mercilessly abused Pat and his siblings to inculcate discipline. After completing his graduation from The Military College of South Carolina, he worked as a teacher in Beaufort. Conroy refused to inflict corporeal punishment on young students. Consequently, he was fired but this didn't deter his motto. He raised his voice against physical torture through his books-- the Price of Tides, The Lords of Discipline, the Great Santini and his memoir My Losing Season. Though he's criticized for being long-winded and purplish but his fans are moved by his naked emotionalism and inspiring ideas projected in his book. He was perhaps the most recognized figure of 20th century Southern Literature. His work was revived on the silver screen through Donna Musil's award-winning documentary Brats: Our Journey Home. Even though the writer is gone, we remember him through his quotes that will continue to inspire and move all of us. We have excerpted Pat Conroy's most popular quotes from his famous books and writings. A collection of Pat Conroy quotes just for you!

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You get a little moody sometimes but I think that's because you like to read. People that like to read are always a little fucked up.

You get a little moody sometimes but I think that's because you like to read. People that like to read are always a little fucked up.

Pat Conroy
Happiness is an accident of nature, a beautiful and flawless aberration.

Happiness is an accident of nature, a beautiful and flawless aberration.

Pat Conroy
Music could ache and hurt, that beautiful music was a place a suffering man could hide.

Music could ache and hurt, that beautiful music was a place a suffering man could hide.

Pat Conroy
Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.

Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.

Pat Conroy
Without music and dance, life is a journey through a desert.

Without music and dance, life is a journey through a desert.

Pat Conroy
I don’t 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.

I don’t 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
A story untold could be the one that kills you.

A story untold could be the one that kills you.

Pat Conroy
I’ve never had anyone’s approval, so I’ve learned to live without it.

I’ve never had anyone’s approval, so I’ve learned to live without it.

Pat Conroy
My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call.

My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call.

Pat Conroy
I could bear the memory, but I could not bear the music that made the memory such a killing thing.

I could bear the memory, but I could not bear the music that made the memory such a killing thing.

Pat Conroy
Fantasy is one of the soul's brighter porcelains.

Fantasy is one of the soul's brighter porcelains.

Pat Conroy
When mom and dad went to war the only prisoners they took were the children

When mom and dad went to war the only prisoners they took were the children

Pat Conroy
Here is all I ask of a book- give me everything. Everything, and don't leave out a single word.

Here is all I ask of a book- give me everything. Everything, and don't leave out a single word.

Pat Conroy
We set down feasts for each other and treated our love with tongues of fire. Our bodies were fields of wonder to us.

We set down feasts for each other and treated our love with tongues of fire. Our bodies were fields of wonder to us.

Pat Conroy
Her laughter was a shiny thing, like pewter flung high in the air.

Her laughter was a shiny thing, like pewter flung high in the air.

Pat Conroy
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.

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
Anyone who knows me well must understand and be sympathetic to my genuine need to be my own greatest hero. It is not a flaw of character; it is a catastrophe.

Anyone who knows me well must understand and be sympathetic to my genuine need to be my own greatest hero. It is not a flaw of character; it is a catastrophe.

Pat Conroy
Rape is a crime against sleep and memory; it's afterimage imprints itself like an irreversible negative from the camera obscura of dreams.

Rape is a crime against sleep and memory; it's afterimage imprints itself like an irreversible negative from the camera obscura of dreams.

Pat Conroy
The only word for goodness is goodness, and it is not enough.

The only word for goodness is goodness, and it is not enough.

Pat Conroy
Man wonders but God decides
When to kill the Prince of Tides.

Man wonders but God decides When to kill the Prince of Tides.

Pat Conroy
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.

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
There is no teacher more discriminating or transforming than loss.

There is no teacher more discriminating or transforming than loss.

Pat Conroy
Carolina beach music,

Carolina beach music," Dupree said, coming up on the porch. "The holiest sound on earth.

Pat Conroy
The human soul can always use a new tradition. Sometimes we require them.

The human soul can always use a new tradition. Sometimes we require them.

Pat Conroy
Men are prisoners of their genitalia and women are the keepers of the keys to paradise.

Men are prisoners of their genitalia and women are the keepers of the keys to paradise.

Pat Conroy
But even her demons she invested with inordinate beauty, consecrated them with the dignity of her attention.

But even her demons she invested with inordinate beauty, consecrated them with the dignity of her attention.

Pat Conroy
A family is one of nature's solubles; it dissolves in time like salt in rainwater.

A family is one of nature's solubles; it dissolves in time like salt in rainwater.

Pat Conroy
But no one walks out of his family without reprisals: a family is too disciplined an army to offer compassion to its deserters.

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
There are no ideas in the South, just barbecue.

There are no ideas in the South, just barbecue.

Pat Conroy
He was one of those rare men who are capable of being fully in love only once in their lives.

He was one of those rare men who are capable of being fully in love only once in their lives.

Pat Conroy