Desmond O'Grady is one of the senior figures in Irish Literary life, exemplary in the way he has committed himself over the decades to the vocation of poetry and has lived selflessly for the art

Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.

Believe that a further shore is reachable from here.

Even if the hopes you started out with are dashed, hope has to be maintained.

Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.

I can't think of a case where poems changed the world, but what they do is they change people's understanding of what's going on in the world.

If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way.

History says, Don’t hope On this side of the grave, But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme

Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.

All I know is a door into the dark

I have begun to think of life as a series of ripples widening out from an original center.

A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.

sometimes I have kept my feelings to myself, because I could find no language to describe them in but what was worn and hackneyed out of all sense and meaning

In remembering the appalling suffering of war on both sides, we recognise how precious is the peace we have built in Europe since 1945.

All I have to say is basically if performing, singing, acting ,and dancing is what you want to do, then you just have to do it - no matter where it is.

If you can cut the people off from their history, then they can be easily persuaded.

When there is trust, conflict becomes nothing but the pursuit of truth, an attempt to find the best possible answer.

Every Christian in every time and place is going to be tempted by certain forms of heresy. I'm sure I'm tempted by my own.

People who believe I'm an idiot don't hire me and they don't call.

I for one do not negotiate with Hamas and believe it is a mistake to do so.

Human nature refers to what is in people but which they cannot study or work at achieving.