Ireland unfree shall never be at peace

You cannot conquer Ireland; you cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom. If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom, then our children will win it by a better deed.

We seem to have lost. We have not lost. To refuse to fight would have been to lose; to fight is to win. We have kept faith with the past, and handed on a tradition to the future.

Life springs from death; and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations.

Blood is a cleansing and sanctifying thing, and the nation that regards it as the final horror has lost its manhood... there are many things more horrible than bloodshed, and slavery is one of them!

A country without a language is a country without a soul.

As long as Ireland is unfree the only honourable attitude for Irish men, women to have is an attitude of rebellion.

There are in every generation those who shrink from the ultimate sacrifice, but there are in every generation those who make it with joy and laughter and these are the salt of the generations.

We are ready to die and shall die cheerfully and proudly, you must not grieve for all of this.

And it seemed increasingly obvious that the world would have to topple if he was to attain the glory that was rightfully his. They were consubstantial: glory and the capsized world.

Pardon me for this resolution … I know that this will be a disgrace that I bring to my people, but I cannot help it. Love is the blame for it. I go in peace ... pray for me ... good-bye all.

Spiritual Christians look upon the world not as a playground but as a battleground.

I have written about 240 books and some short stories, too. It's taken me many years.

All fates are ‘worse than death’.

The swallow is come! The swallow is come! O, fair are the seasons, and light Are the days that she brings, With her dusky wings, And her bosom snowy white!

Principles are a dangerous form of social dynamite.

Why dost thou not retire like a guest sated with the banquet of life, and with calm mind embrace, thou fool, a rest that knows no care?

Just now I've taen the fit o' rhyme / My barmie noddle's working prime.

What "love" is I don't know if it's not the response of our deepest natures to one another.