Rose of Arden: Begorrah!

St Patrick's day, is a time of celebration for anyone who is Irish or with Irish ancestors. I count myself amongst the celebrating throng. My grandfather was blessed with the natural wit and carried the DNA of the Blarney Stone. Here are a few of the quotes by the sons and daughters of Ireland, enjoy their wit!

I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best. Oscar Wilde

I can resist everything but temptation. Oscar Wilde

As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her daughters, she is perfectly satisfied. Oscar Wilde

I love scandals about other people, but scandals about myself don’t interest me. They have not got the charm of novelty. Oscar Wilde

Murder is always a mistake...One should never do anything that one cannot talk about after dinner. Oscar Wilde

I like Wagner’s music better than anybody’s. It is so loud that one can talk the whole time without people hearing what one says. Oscar Wilde

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. Oscar Wilde

One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that, would tell one anything. Oscar Wilde

I never saw a man who looked

With such a wistful eye
Upon that little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky

Oscar Wilde

The good end happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means. Oscar Wilde

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train. Oscar Wilde

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go. Oscar Wilde

Man always wants to be a women’s first love. Women have a more subtle instinct:What they like is to be a man’s last romance. Oscar Wilde

The most important things to do in the world are to get something to eat, something to drink and somebody to love you. Brendan Behan

The big difference between sex for money and sex for free is that sex for money usually costs a lot less. Brendan Behan

I am a drinker with writing problems. Brendan Behan

One drink is too many for me and a thousand not enough. Brendan Behan

Other people have a nationality. The Irish and the Jews have a psychosis. Brendan Behan

There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary. Brendan Behan

I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer. Brendan Behan

I only drink on two occasions -- when I'm thirsty and when I'm not Brendan Behan

When I came back to Dublin I was court-martialed in my absence and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence. Brendan Behan

No strangers here, just friends you haven't met! Brendan Behan

Education is not filling William Butler Yeats

The intellect is forced to choose: Perfection of the life, or of the work. William Butler Yeats

The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are sober. William Butler Yeats

A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honours the men it remembers. John F. Kennedy

I think the Irish woman was freed from slavery by bingo. They can go out now, dressed up, with their handbags and have a drink and play bingo. And they deserve it. John B. Keane

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. Oliver Goldsmith
Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch, which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. George Bernard Shaw

I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversations. George Bernard Shaw

There is no love sincerer than the love of food. George Bernard Shaw

Newspapers are unable, seemingly, to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilisation. George Bernard Shaw

A man who loses his money gains, at the least, experience, and sometimes, something better. George Bernard Shaw

The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor. He takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them. George Bernard Shaw

Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not. George Bernard Shaw

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all. George Bernard Shaw

When I die I want to decompose in a barrel of porter and have it served in all the pubs in Ireland. J. P. Dunleavy

I'm troubled, I'm dissatisfied. I'm Irish! Marianne Moore

No human being believes that any other human being has a right to be in bed when he himself is up. Robert Lynd

Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity. Samuel Butler

The Irish are a fair people; they never speak well of one another. Samuel Johnson

Every man of genius is considerably helped by being dead. Robert Lynd

All I ever seemed to get was the kind of girl who had a special dispensation from Rome to wear the thickest part of her legs below the knee. Hugh Leonard

There is an Irish way of paying compliments as though they were irresistible truths which makes what would otherwise be an impertinence delightful. Katherine Tynan Hinkson

A lament in one ear, maybe, but always a song in the other. Sean O'Casey

At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely. W. Somerset Maugham

One wonders in this place, why anyone is left in Dublin, or London, or Paris where it would be better, one would think to live in a tent or hut, with this magnificent sea and sky, and to breathe this wonderful air which is like wine in one's teeth. J. M. Synge

May the road rise up to meet you.

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

An old Irish proverb

May those who love us, love us.

For those who don't love us,
May God turn their hearts.
And if God can't turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping!

An old Irish proverb