1.
Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get.
George Bernard Shaw
Be meticulous in selecting what you desire or you will be compelled to accept what comes your way.
2.
I had that stubborn streak, the Irish in me I guess.
Gregory Peck
3.
It's not that the Irish are cynical. It's rather that they have a wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody.
Brendan Behan
4.
Why should Ireland be treated as a geographical fragment of England - Ireland is not a geographical fragment, but a nation.
Charles Stewart Parnell
7.
Every St. Patrick's Day every Irishman goes out to find another Irishman to make a speech to.
Shane Leslie
8.
Ireland is where strange tales begin and happy endings are possible.
Charles Haughey
10.
The Irish gave the bagpipes to the Scotts as a joke, but the Scotts haven't seen the joke yet.
Oliver Herford
11.
I used to go missing a lot... Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World.
George Best
12.
I was court-martialled in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.
Brendan Behan
13.
When anyone asks me about the Irish character, I say look at the trees. Maimed, stark and misshapen, but ferociously tenacious.
Edna O'Brien
14.
It's better to spend money like there's no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there's no money.
P. J. O'Rourke
15.
A Kerry footballer with an inferiority complex is one who thinks he's just as good as everybody else.
John B. Keane
16.
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
17.
What's the use of being Irish if you can't be thick?
Billy Conn
18.
Irishness is not primarily a question of birth or blood or language; it is the condition of being involved in the Irish situation, and usually of being mauled by it.
Conor Cruise O'Brien
20.
The problem with Ireland is that it's a country full of genius, but with absolutely no talent.
Hugh Leonard
21.
There is an Irish way of paying compliments as though they were irresistible truths which makes what would otherwise be an impertinence delightful.
Katharine Tynan
22.
Put an Irishman on the spit and you can always get another Irishman to turn him.
George Bernard Shaw
23.
You know, I have a theory about Charlie Haughey. If you give him enough rope, he'll hang you.
Charles Haughey
24.
Whether it be a matter of personal relations within a marriage or political initiatives within a peace process, there is no sure-fire do-it-yourself kit.
Seamus Heaney
25.
Ireland is a peculiar society in the sense that it was a nineteenth century society up to about 1970 and then it almost bypassed the twentieth century.
John McGahern
26.
The Irish seem to have more fire about them than the Scots.
Sean Connery
27.
Dublin university contains the cream of Ireland: Rich and thick.
Samuel Beckett
28.
If it was raining soup, the Irish would go out with forks.
Brendan Behan
29.
The Irish are a fair people: They never speak well of one another.
Samuel Johnson
31.
You know it is summer in Ireland when the rain gets warmer.
Hal Roach
32.
I have a thing for red-haired Irish boys, as we know.
Sandra Bullock
33.
What's the use of being Irish if the world doesn't break your heart?
John F. Kennedy
34.
An Irishman can be worried by the consciousness that there is nothing to worry about.
Austin O'Malley
35.
When Irish eyes are smiling, watch your step.
Gerald Kersh