Irish Sayings
Irish Quotes
The Irish have are renowned for their verbal artistry which is most evident in Irish sayings and quotations. We have collected some of the best Irish quotes which we think capture the soul and wisdom of the Irish.
- "It's not that the Irish are cynical. It's rather that they have a wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody."
-- Brendan Behan(1923-1964) - Irish dramatist, author - "In order to find his equal, an Irishman is forced to talk to God."
-- Stephen Braveheart - "St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time -- a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic."
-- Adrienne Cook - "When I die I want to decompose in a barrel of porter and have it served in all the pubs in Ireland."
-- J. P. Dunleavy - "This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever."
-- Sigmund Freud (about the Irish) - "There is an Irish way of paying compliments as though they were irresistible truths which makes what would otherwise be an impertinence delightful."
-- Katherine Tynan Hinkson - "You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was."
-- Irish Proverb - "The most beautiful music of all is the music of what happens."
-- Irish Proverb - "A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book."
-- Irish Proverb - "You never miss the water till the well has run dry."
-- Irish Proverb - "Half a loaf of bread is better than no bread at all."
-- Irish Proverb - "Remember even if you loose all, keep your good name; for if you loose that you are worthless."
-- Irish Proverb - "An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto one blade of grass to keep from falling off the earth."
-- Irish Saying - "Don't be breaking your shin on a stool that's not in your way."
-- Irish Saying - "Ireland is rich in literature that understands a soul's yearnings, and dancing that understands a happy heart."
-- Margaret Jackson - "Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat."
-- Alex Levine - "O Ireland isn't it grand you look--Like a bride in her rich adornin? And with all the pent-up love of my heart I bid you the top o' the mornin!"
-- John Locke "The Exile's Return" - "In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs."
-- Sir John Pentland Mahaffy - An Irish Blessing May the road rise to meet you...May the wind be always at your back...May the sunshine warm upon your face...May the rains fall soft upon your fields...And, until we meet again...May God hold you in the hollow of his hand
- "On she went, and her maiden smile In safety lighted her round the Green Isle; And blest forever was she who relied Upon Erin's honor and Erin's pride."
-- Thomas Moore - "When anyone asks me about the Irish character, I say look at the trees. Maimed, stark and misshapen, but ferociously tenacious."
-- Edna O'Brien (1932– ) - "Why should Ireland be treated as a geographical fragment of England . . . Ireland is not a geographical fragment, but a nation."
-- Charles Stewart Parnell (1846—1891) - "Eternal is the fact that the human creature born in Ireland and brought up in its air is Irish. I have lived for twenty years in Ireland and for seventy-two in England; but the twenty came first, and in Britain I am still a foreigner and shall die one."
-- George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950 ) - "There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting."
-- John Millington Synge (1871–1909) - "Anyone acquainted with Ireland knows that the morning of St. Patrick's Day consists of the night of the 17th of March flavored strongly with the morning of the 18th."
-- Unknown - "We . . . are no petty people. We are one of the great stocks of Europe. We are the people of Burke; we are the people of Swift, the people of Emmet, the people of Parnell. We have created most of the modern literature of this country. We have created the best of its political intelligence."
-- W. B. Yeats (1865–1939) speech in the Irish Senate, June 11, 1925
