Irish Quotations

Until we meet again, may the good Lord take a liking to you.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.

If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

It's not that the Irish are cynical. It's rather that they have a wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody.

Every St. Patrick's Day every Irishman goes out to find another Irishman to make a speech to.

Nationalism of the Irish type is often regarded as reactionary. With the World Revolution and the Classless Society waiting for the midwife, why take a torch to the stable to assist at the birth of a puppy? Even if the puppy is pedigree. On this question I am unable to make up my mind.

I lived in the Republic of Ireland. I wrote a book about the North but as an outsider. The hatreds there were not mine. I never felt them. I liked how open in most ways Catalan nationalism was, compared to Irish nationalism. I disliked the violence and cruelty in Ireland.

Being Irish is very much a part of who I am. I take it everywhere with me.

I'm Irish and always will be, but America has taught me so much. Maybe it's here in the U.S. that we find a healing, for in the broader melting pot we get to look at some of these self-destructive attributes that we bring to bear upon our own quarrels and begin to solve them in ways other than just splitting apart.

If it was raining soup, the Irish would go out with forks.

Writing is learning to say nothing, more cleverly each day.

I am not in the business of pointing fingers or making excuses. However, recent history has shown that I, like thousands of others in Ireland, incorrectly relied upon the persons who guided Anglo and who wrongfully sought to portray a 'blue chip' Irish banking sector.

A sword, a spade, and a thought should never be allowed to rust.

'You're Ugly Too' isn't a comedy, but it has a lightness of touch with a hard edge. But it's essentially a warm story tinged with a bit of melancholy in the great Irish tradition. I'm very proud of that film.

Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.

I used to go missing a lot... Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World.

Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

For me, a story begins with music: I feel the rhythm, the cadence, the pulse of the characters and their voices and the setting. Because I had just finished writing a book called 'Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine,' I was already filled with the music of the lives and culture of the Irish people, so I thought, why not use it?

The power of the print reviewer is one of those urban myths. There have always been shows that slipped under the critical radar to become popular successes: 'Tobacco Road', 'Abie's Irish Rose' and our old friend 'Spider-Man', which got the worst reviews in theatre history and is still apparently going strong.

Whether it be a matter of personal relations within a marriage or political initiatives within a peace process, there is no sure-fire do-it-yourself kit.

No, there's nothing half so sweet in life as love's young dream.

I had that stubborn streak, the Irish in me I guess.

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.

There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

'Ulysses' is the greatest anti-racist text in the English language, and it challenges right from the beginning the vicious racism which lies near the foundations of the Irish Free State and of the Irish republic.

Irish is the prominent nationality in the family, but beyond that, I really don't know. I see a lot of artistic or creative influence coming through on my mother's side.

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.

A translation is no translation, he said, unless it will give you the music of a poem along with the words of it.

I did a great deal of research to write 'The Irish Duke.' Since all the people in this Lords of the Realm series are real historical characters, everything had to be authentic. I researched Woburn Abbey, where my heroine lived, and everything about Barons Court in Ireland, which was the ancestral home of Abercorn.

One drink is too many for me and a thousand not enough.

Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained.

The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.

The insidiousness of science lies in its claim to be not a subject, but a method.

As far as Irish writers being great, I think the fact that there have been two languages in Ireland for a very long time; there has obviously been a shared energy between those two languages.

It is a poor cause which has to be lied for regularly.

It is only to the happy that tears are a luxury.

Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.

No fashion has ever been created expressly for the lean purse or for the fat woman: the dressmaker's ideal is the thin millionaires.

My dad's Irish music was such a huge influence.

Romantic love is an illusion. Most of us discover this truth at the end of a love affair or else when the sweet emotions of love lead us into marriage and then turn down their flames.

The Irish seem to have more fire about them than the Scots.

He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.

Spare all I have, and take my life.

The Irish gave the bagpipes to the Scotts as a joke, but the Scotts haven't seen the joke yet.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

A man who is not afraid of the sea will soon be drowned, he said, for he will be going out on a day he shouldn't. But we do be afraid of the sea, and we do only be drownded now and again.

The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.

The absence of the heavy boot of Europe has preserved to these people the agile walk of the wild animal, while the general simplicity of their lives has given them many other points of physical perfection.

This sympathy is not translated into force against the British government because it is not like the anti- apartheid movement which had a high profile here and Mandela is a more engaging figure than Yasser Arafat.

We were married for almost 45 years. We fought all the time, it wasn't a great love or anything, it wasn't a great, all-consuming passion. She was just there. A lot of people were startled because we didn't seem devoted but we were.

Man's enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself.

Poetry is not Irish or any other nationality; and when writers such as Messrs. Clarke, Farren and the late F. R. Higgins pursue Irishness as a poetic end, they are merely exploiting incidental local colour.

One of my few childhood memories is as an eight-year-old, refused permission to watch the Hitchcock season on Irish television, sneakily viewing 'The Birds' though a crack in the living-room door. It transformed my hitherto perfectly enjoyable half-mile walk to school, down a country lane patrolled by watchful birds, into a terrifying ordeal.

Great acts are made up of small deeds.

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

I did the same thing as every Irish person who comes to New York. I arrived on a Wednesday, and by Saturday night, I was pulling pints at a pub in the Bronx.

Law grinds the poor, and rich men rule the law.

I grew up in a very old-fashioned Roman Catholic, Italian-Irish family in Philly.

I come from the tradition of a big Irish family that loves to sing. I love to perform.

He who does not trust enough, Will not be trusted.

I was court-martialled in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.

I think Paul McGuinness and U2 created the Irish music industry. It certainly wasn't there before that.

Dublin university contains the cream of Ireland: Rich and thick.

The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.

I would love to go back to any time in European history, especially in Irish history, to the second or third century, prior to the arrival of Christianity when Paganism flourished. I can always go back there in my imagination, of course. It doesn't cost anything, and it's a form of time travel, I suppose.

I say myself no depressed words just depressed minds.

He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.

Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.

The sage does not hoard. The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself, The more he gives to others, the more he gets himself. The Way of Heaven does one good but never does one harm. The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete.

The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.

There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.

The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be.

I do not concern myself with gods and spirits either good or evil nor do I serve any.

One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him.

Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself.

Of all that is good, sublimity is supreme. Succeeding is the coming together of all that is beautiful. Furtherance is the agreement of all that is just. Perseverance is the foundation of all actions.

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.

It is better to do one's own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never sins.

Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.

If the Great Way perishes there will morality and duty. When cleverness and knowledge arise great lies will flourish. When relatives fall out with one another there will be filial duty and love. When states are in confusion there will be faithful servants.

The career of a sage is of two kinds: He is either honored by all in the world, Like a flower waving its head, Or else he disappears into the silent forest.

I'm Irish. I think about death all the time.

If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.

Great indeed is the sublimity of the Creative, to which all beings owe their beginning and which permeates all heaven.

One can not reflect in streaming water. Only those who know internal peace can give it to others.

Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Do not overdo it.

Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.

One's real life is so often the life that one does not lead.

An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.

There are writers, and I know some of them, who are very disciplined. Who write, like, four pages a day, every day. And it doesn't matter if their dog got run over by a car that day, or they won the Irish sweepstakes. I'm not one of those writers.

How could man rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men?

He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty.