Malachy McCourt Quotes

I don't think Ireland has ever had a genius for the novel. Of course, there were plenty of Irish novels, but I don't think that was ever the natural means of expression for the Irish.

Ireland is a land of poets and legends, of dreamers and rebels. All of these have music woven through and around them. Tunes for dancing or for weeping, for battle or for love.

The great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made mad, For all their wars are merry, and all their songs are sad.

There was a kind of madness in the country. Eamon De Valera, the prime minister, had this vision of an Ireland where we'd all be in some kind of native costume - which doesn't exist - and we'd be dancing at the crossroads, babbling away in Gaelic, going to Mass, everyone virginal and pure.

I spent a lot of time growing up in Ireland in Donegal.

When I was growing up, for example, everybody on our street was Irish. And all the girls did Irish step dancing. It was pre-Lord of the Dance - it was before anybody knew what gillys were - but we did, and there was such pride among the members of my family and people I grew up with.

I grew up in Ireland, and there were so many things we believed in.

Ireland, once you live there, you're seduced by it.

I think there's something about the Irish experience - that we had to have a sense of humor or die.

St. Patrick, bringing the religion to Ireland, this is what we should celebrate.

I love playing in Ireland and I've had great support here, like I get everywhere.

I've often said it: that it is seen to be a place of energy, of excitement, of enthusiasm. That there's something about Ireland.

I absolutely loved it in Ireland.

I think most Irish people are creative. Whether it's music, or dance, or... certainly storytelling is in the blood.

Dublin is really fun, and Irish people are hilarious.

With Irish drama, things are told with humor.

Yeats regarded his work as the close of an epoch, and the least of his later lyrics brings the sense of a great occasion. English critics have tried to claim him for their tradition, but, heard closely, his later music has that tremulous lyrical undertone which can be found in the Anglo-Irish eloquence of the eighteenth century.

People in Ireland take in the whole song. After a long history of great singers and songwriters and poets, they are able to consume the entire song - not just the external; they go inside.

I have a bit of a love affair with fairy tales and some of the ideas of Irish mythology, like Oscar Wilde and W.B. Yeats, who captured a lot of that very beautifully.

Why are Americans so fascinated by Ireland?" Keith asked... "you all think you're Irish. What's the appeal? Do you like the accent more? Is it all the magical rocks? Oh, look, a lep­rechaun.

I'm proud of my Irish heritage and culture.

Don't be the best in town. Just try to be the best until the best come around.

To be an Irish poet after that 19th century in which there was such a struggle toward the light, I think still will always be in the hearts of the writers of my generation and the generations before and hopefully the generations after.

The Irish, as a race, have the oral tradition in their blood. A direct question to them is an anathema, but in other cases, a mere syllable of a hero's name will elicit whole chapters of stories.