Being Irish Quotes - Page 2

Love is never defeated, and I could add, the history of Ireland proves it.

Pope John Paul II

Faith, Inspiration, Love Is

Pope John Paul II (1980). “Pilgrimage of peace: the collected speeches of John Paul II in Ireland and the United States”, HarperCollins

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The English are not happy unless they are miserable, the Irish are not at peace unless they are at war, and the Scots are not at home unless they are abroad.

George Orwell

War, Home, Scotland

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What's the use of being Irish if the world doesn't break your heart?

John F. Kennedy

Heart, Ireland And The Irish, Use

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The way I see it is that all the ol' guff about being Irish is a kind of nonsense. I mean, I couldn't be anything else no matter what I tried to be. I couldn't be Chinese or Japanese.

John McGahern

Mean, Chinese, Matter

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To be Irish is to know that in the end the world will break your heart.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Heart, World, Break

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A man in love is incomplete until he has married. Then he's finished.

Zsa Zsa Gabor

Love, Funny, Marriage

In Newsweek 28 Mar. 1960, p. 89

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Ireland is a peculiar society in the sense that it was a nineteenth century society up to about 1970 and then it almost bypassed the twentieth century.

John McGahern

Ireland And The Irish, Peculiar, Century

"The whole world in a community". Interview with Robert McCrum, www.theguardian.com. January 5, 2002.

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As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.

Buddy Hackett

Funny, Family, Mothers Day

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An Irishman can be worried by the consciousness that there is nothing to worry about.

Austin O'Malley

Worry, Ireland And The Irish, Consciousness

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Ireland is a fruitful mother of genius, but a barren nurse.

John Boyle O'Reilly

Mother, Nurse, Ireland And The Irish

John Boyle O'Reilly (1907). “Watchwords”

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If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people in the world?

Stephen Fry

Happiness, Success, Ignorance

"QI: Albania". TV Series, www.imdb.com. 2003.

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But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

William Butler Yeats

Love, Life, Dream

"HeWishes for the Cloths of Heaven" l. 7 (1899)

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Why should Ireland be treated as a geographical fragment of England - Ireland is not a geographical fragment, but a nation.

Charles Stewart Parnell

Ireland And The Irish, England, Should

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Sheep are not considered the most intelligent animals but British scientist say humans may have underestimated the woolly creatures. In fact, the British scientific community is even suggesting that the animals might even be "Irish-smart.".

Jon Stewart

Smart, Animal, Intelligent

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Cheaters never prosper, unless they get away with it.

Daniel Tosh

Cheater, Funny Irish, Get Away

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When Irish eyes are smiling, watch your step.

Gerald Kersh

Eye, Ireland And The Irish, Watches

Gerald Kersh (1946). “Neither man nor dog: short stories”

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We are no petty people. We are one of the great stocks 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.

William Butler Yeats

Country, People, Political

Speech in Seanad on government measure outlawing divorce, 11 June 1925

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There is an Irish way of paying compliments as though they were irresistible truths which makes what would otherwise be an impertinence delightful.

Katharine Tynan

Ireland And The Irish, Way, Compliment

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I think there's a bit of the devil in everybody. There's a bit of a priest in everybody, too, but I enjoyed playing the devil more. He was more fun.

Gabriel Byrne

Fun, Thinking, Devil

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I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.

Jerome K. Jerome

Funny, Work, Humorous

Three Men in a Boat ch. 15 (1889)

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When I die, I want to decompose in a barrel of porter and have it served in all the pubs in Dublin. I wonder would they know it was me?

J. P. Donleavy

Funny, Death, Beer

Ginger Man (1955) ch. 31

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May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past.

P.B. Kerr

Blessing, Past, May

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Put an Irishman on the spit and you can always get another Irishman to turn him.

George Bernard Shaw

Ireland And The Irish, Spit, Turns

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My father was totally Irish, and so I went to Ireland once. I found it to be very much like New York, for it was a beautiful country, and both the women and men were good-looking.

James Cagney

Beautiful, Country, New York

Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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To be honest I live among the English and have always found them to be very honest in their business dealings. They are noble, hard-working and anxious to do the right thing. But joy eludes them, they lack the joy that the Irish have.

Fiona Shaw

Hard Work, Joy, Noble

"Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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