Famous Irish Sayings & Quotations

'A Journey on into a New Year'

There is a lovely earthiness, warmth & sincerity about traditional Irish sayings & blessings.
So may I extend to those that I know & admire, one of my favourites as we continue our journey on into a New Year:

Go raibh an ghaoth go brách ag do chúl ...Go lonraí an ghrian go te ar d'aghaidh ...Go dtite an bháisteach go mín ar do pháirceanna Agus go mbuailimid le chéile arís, Go gcoinní Dia i mbos A láimhe thú.

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

ps. The attached photo is from the lovely island of 'Inis Meain'

Famous Irish Quotes & Sayings - Part 12

What is Irish diplomacy?
It is the ability to tell a man to go to Hell,
so that he will look forward
to making the trip!

Famous Irish Quotes & Sayings - Part 11

"The great appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise!"

Attributed to both James Connolly
(Irish socialist revolutionary executed by the British in 1916)

& 'Big Jim' - James Larkin (Irish socialist agitator whose statue stands on O'Connell Street in Dublin)

Famous Irish Sayings & Quotes - Part 11

"All Great Truths Begin as Blasphemies"
- George Bernard Shaw

A very wise observation.

The beliefs of history's greatest political, religious and social progressives were always condemned by the authorities of their times as dangerous and evil lies. Of course it had nothing to do with the truth and everything to do with the fact that their teachings were judged to be a threat to the powers of the ruling elite.

Famous Irish Sayings & Quotes - Part 10

Always Forgive Your Enemies.
Nothing Annoys Them So Much
-Oscar Wilde

Famous Irish Quotes & Sayings - 7

The great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad
-G.K, Chesterton, famous English writer

St. Patrick's Day in Galway 2007- Official! Spirituality & Patriotism to be replaced by Worship of Money

The greatest day in the Irish calendar - St. Patrick's Day - is now to go the way of other important religious, celebratory and national days.
For the Galway City Business Association has decided to break with tradition established in 1903 when the local Parade was initiated by announcing that retail outlets will open for business. In so doing, they are helping to undermine family and spiritual life in Ireland.

Over the last few decades, the insatiable appetite to make money has taken precedence over all other human needs. Led by the big supermarket chains such as Dunnes Stores, Sundays are no longer a shop-free day, nor Thursdays & Fridays in Race Week, nor Easter Sunday.
Under financial pressure, small businesses have gradually found that they had to follow suit.

Even for the non-religious, these days once had a uniqueness and sparkle that gave them a special magical ambiance. Except for the hospitality sector, retail outlets and businesses closed their doors allowing workers and their families to enjoy the nice things in life together free from the stresses of work or the hassle of shopping: they could go for a picnic, take a stroll up a mountain, a cycle or a drive in the countryside, pray at church and meet friends and neighbours, visit a carnival or go to the cinema. Devoid of frantic shoppers or people rushing to the office, town centres looked and felt more peaceful as smiley happy people sauntered around at a leisurely pace as if they had not a care in the world.
Sadly, successive governments are caving into the business sector and curtailing family life and the rights of workers.
I do not want to be over sentimental- there was a lot wrong with the old Ireland- its poverty, its domination by an arch-conservative Catholic Church, its intolerance...However are we not now 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater?'
As WB Yeats said, they have their hand in the "...greasy till..." and in the process "...Romantic Ireland is Dead and Gone, it is with O'Leary in the grave...".

On second thoughts, maybe there is one symbol of old Ireland that the Big Retail Chains are consciously promoting- the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow?!!!

Famous Irish Quotes & Sayings - 6

"Being Born in a Stable does not make you a Horse"
-Duke of Wellington who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, referring to his Irish birth. Wellington's comment, with its allusions to Christ's birth in a stable, obviously portray's his resentment that he was born in a country inhabited by a people that his imperialist aristocratic pedigree felt was an inferior breed

'Famous Irish Quotations & Sayings- Part 4' & the Catholic Church's rehabilitation of Oscar Wilde

There is a very interesting article in today's British Independent regarding the rehabilitation of Oscar Wilde by the Catholic Church.
For someone that was jailed for homosexual activities and led a bacchanalian lifestyle, this is extraordinary.
Oscar's well-publicised witticisms sometimes displayed a carefree slovenly attitude that would have greatly upset society's religious and moral guardians. For example,

"I can resist everything except temptation"
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes"
"Morality is simply an attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike"
"Some people say there is a God: others say there is no God. The truth probably lies somewhere in between."

Yet I believe that these sayings were said 'tongue in cheek' and represented a witty send up of the stated values of Victorian Britain.
For there is a intrinsic sense of goodness and an inherent moral message in many of his most important writings that I have enjoyed and have even inspired me. This is particularly true of Oscar's wonderful children's stories such as 'The Nightingale & the Rose'. But it is there also in his adult writings such as 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'.

Oscar was one of the greatest writers ever to come out of Ireland, who oftentimes portrayed a perceptive and critical attitude towards the Imperial establishment of Victorian Britain that would have warmed the heart of many an Irish republican. Yes, he enjoyed the luxuries and follies of the London rich elite. But his stories and sayings more often than not portrayed a man with a strong humanitarian streak and an awareness of the injustices permeating society.
He also had a fascination with the Catholic Church which would have been judged reprenhensible by the 19th century British elite.

Famous Irish Quotations & Sayings - Part 2

"May the roof above us never fall in, and may the friends gathered below it never fall out"
-Traditional Irish Toast, anon