Ireland Quotes - Page 14

• A daughter of a King of Ireland, heard A voice singing on a May Eve like this, And followed half awake and half asleep, Until she came into the Land of Faery, Where nobody gets old and godly and grave, Where nobody gets old and crafty and wise, Where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue. And she is still there, busied with a dance Deep in the dewy shadow of a wood, Or where stars walk upon a mountain-top.

  William Butler Yeats

  Wise, Daughter, Kings

  William Butler Yeats (1814). “The Land of Heart's Desire”, p.12

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• I think Catholicism took root very quickly in Ireland because it's a very superstitious religion, the holy ghost, the holy spirit, it has a goddess, very visual, the music.

  Conor McPherson

  Thinking, Roots, Spirit

  "Interview: Conor McPherson and Ciarán Hinds of ‘The Eclipse’". Interview with Nell Minow, moviemom.com. March 25, 2010.

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• My background is Protestant so I benefited from the great Bible teaching that was provided there... I did love the more culturally classical things, like Irish music, which I think is some of the most congregational-style music when you think of... 'St. Patrick's Breastplate' (and) 'Danny Boy.' These are traditional Irish melodies. I think being brought up there (Ireland) gave me a sense of melody that is very attuned to congregational singing.

  Keith Getty

  Teaching, Boys, Thinking

  "Composer/performer Keith Getty is celebrating an Irish Christmas at venues across the USA". Interview with John W. Kennedy, www.beliefnet.com. December 5, 2014.

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• Come, fix upon me that accusing eye.
  I thirst for accusation. All that was sung.
  All that was said in Ireland is a lie
  Breed out of the contagion of the throng,
  Saving the rhyme rats hear before they die.

  William Butler Yeats

  Lying, Eye, Saving

  William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.285, Simon and Schuster

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• the way with Ireland is that no sooner do you get away from her than the golden mists begin to close about her, and she lies, an Island of the Blest, something enchanted in our dreams. When you come back you may think you are disillusioned, but you know well that the fairy mists will begin to gather about her once more.

  Katharine Tynan

  Dream, Lying, Thinking

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• ...though one can be callous in Ireland one cannot be wholly opaque or material. An unearthly disturbance works in the spirit; reason can never reconcile one to life; nothing allays the wants one cannot explain.

  Elizabeth Bowen

  Opaque, Want, Spirit

  Elizabeth Bowen (1998). “Bowen's Court”

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• In an environment where everybody's jersey is up for grabs, like what Joe Schmidt is currently doing with Ireland in rugby, a massive competitive environment is created every night at training, every day in the gym and every day, believe it or not, in the tactical computer room.

  Brian Cody

  Believe, Night, Training

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• Though the last glimpse of Erin with sorrow I see, Yet wherever thou art shall seem Erin to me; In exile thy bosom shall still be my home, And thine eyes make my climate wherever we roam.

  Thomas Moore

  Art, Home, Eye

  Thomas Moore, J. W. Lake (1829). “The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore Including His Melodies, Ballads, Etc: Complete in One Volume”, p.286

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• I was the rector's son, born to the anglican order,
  Banned for ever from the candles of the Irish poor;
  The Chichesters knelt in marble at the end of a transept
  With ruffs about their necks, their portion sure.

  Louis MacNeice

  Son, Order, Necks

  Louis MacNeice (2015). “Collected Poems”, p.91, Faber & Faber

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• I have often heard it said that the Irish are too ready to forgive. It is a noble failing.

  Katharine Tynan

  Forgiving, Noble, Failing

  Katharine Tynan (1922). “The Wandering Years”

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• There's a certain status to suffering in Ireland, that the person who - if you're sitting around a table, the person with the greatest status is the person who had the most horrible thing happen to them most recently.

  Michael Lewis

  Suffering, Sitting, Tables

  "Michael Lewis’ 'Boomerang': 'Money Thrown Out in Hope, Coming Back in Anger'". "PBS NewsHour" with Jeffrey Brown, www.pbs.org. October 21, 2011.

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• It was on the first day of Beltaine, that is called now May Day, the Tuatha de Danaan came, and it was to the north-west of Connacht they landed. But the Firbolgs, the Men of the Bag, that were in Ireland before them, and that had come from the South, saw nothing but a mist, and it lying on the hills.

  Lady Gregory

  Lying, Men, Bags

  Lady Gregory (2013). “The Essential Lady Gregory Collection”, p.19, eBookIt.com

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• Well, it has done terrifying things. Religious ideas are inflammatory in a way that I find difficult to understand. There are very few wars over the theory of relativity. Very few heated arguments, for that matter. Whereas, in Northern Ireland, they are killing one another over religion.

  Quentin Crisp

  Religious, War, Ideas

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• Ireland is a small but insuppressible island half an hour nearer the sunset than Great Britain.

  Tom Kettle

  Sunset, Islands, Half

  Tom Kettle (1918). “The day's burden: studies, literary & political and miscellaneous essays”

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• DEINOTHERIUM, n. An extinct pachyderm that flourished when the Pterodactyl was in fashion. The latter was a native of Ireland, its name being pronounced Terry Dactyl or Peter O'Dactyl, as the man pronouncing it may chance to have heard it spoken or seen it printed.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Fashion, Men, Names

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.51, University of Georgia Press

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• Irish people have a trick of over-statement, at which one ceases to wince as one grows older.

  Katharine Tynan

  People, Tricks, Wince

  Katharine Tynan (1913). “Twenty-five Years: Reminiscences”

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• Religion dies hard in the Irish.

  Katharine Tynan

  Dies, Hard

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• The lower interest rates fueled housing and consumption booms in countries such as Spain and Ireland. At the same time, Germany, struggling with the burdens of reunification, tightened its belt and became more competitive. All this led to a wide divergence in economic performance. Europe became divided into creditor and debtor countries.

  George Soros

  Country, Struggle, Europe

  "George Soros on the Euro Crisis". Interview with Der Spiegel, www.georgesoros.com. June 26, 2012.

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• The Irish always jest even though they jest with tears.

  Katharine Tynan

  Tears, Jest

  Katharine Tynan (1922). “The Wandering Years”

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• Up in the north of Scotland, a lot of the villages are completely Viking names. A lot of Vikings came down and settled in Scotland and in Ireland. And a lot of them didn't, but they took plenty of us with them - mostly the chicks.

  Gerard Butler

  Names, Scotland, Village

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• Why do we like being Irish? Partly because
  It gives us a hold on the sentimental English
  As members of a world that never was,
  Baptized with fairy water

  Louis MacNeice

  Giving, Water, World

  Louis MacNeice (2015). “Selected Poems”, p.94, Faber & Faber

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• We, at least, are not loyal men: we confess to having more respect and honour for the raggedest child of the poorest labourer in Ireland today than for any, even the most virtuous, descendant of the long array of murderers, adulterers and madmen who have sat upon the throne of England.

  James Connolly

  Children, Men, Long

  James Connolly (1987). “Labour in Irish history ; The re-conquest of Ireland ; Socialism and nationalism”

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• We are always giving foreign names to very native things. If there is a thing that reeks of the glorious tradition of the old English tavern, it is toasted cheese. But for some wild reason we call it Welsh rarebit. I believe that what we call Irish stew might more properly be called English stew, and that it is not particularly familiar in Ireland.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Food, Believe, Names

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• History, well taught, is the demythologising of the past... Take any important issue of our time - Northern Ireland, Nuclear Disarmament, Race, The Welfare State, South Africa - and it becomes impossible to seriously confront any of them without understanding their historical background.

  Alan Bullock

  Past, Race, Nuclear Disarmament

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• We who represent the Unionist Party in England and Scotland have supported, and we mean to support to the end, the loyal minority [in Ireland]. We support them not because we are intolerant, but because their claims are just.

  Bonar Law

  Party, Mean, Scotland

  Bonar Law's speech in the Albert Hall, January 26, 1912.

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