Every craggy and gnarled tree has its own strange and graceful legend attached to it.

It is a most disgraceful shame the way in which Irishmen are brought up. They are ashamed of their language, institutions, and of everything Irish.

I do not share the wish to see my language dead and decently buried

As our language wanes and dies, the golden legends of the far-off centuries fade and pass away. No one sees their influence upon culture; no one sees their educational power.

Maybe one reason I had avoided anger was that like a lot of people I had thought there were only two responses to anger: to deny it or to strike out thoughtlessly. But other responses are possible.

Instead of narrowing our allegiances to only include our favored nation, let us sing an anthem to the marvelous human being.

Stay strong, be brave, love hard and true, and you will have nothing to lose.

The only training for the heroic is the mundane.

Men who think in lifetimes are of little use to statesmanship.

Then of course there are bigger things that matter, like who do I see up there in the congregation? Do I see myself up there? Well, I don't.

I've been doing politics 30 years. I've never seen an election like this [in 2016]. This is entirely unpredictable.

An ideal museum show would be a mating of Brideshead Revisited with House & Garden, provoking intense and pleasurable nostalgia for a past that none of its audience has had.

She’s been hanging out with Nick.” – Acheron “Nick? As in I-hate-your-guts-Ash-go-die Nick?” – Tory

All the problems of the world could be settled easily if men were only willing to think.