Every publisher or agent I've ever met told me the same thing - that Irish readers don't want to read about the bad old days of the Troubles; neither do the English and Americans - they only want to read about the Ireland of The Quiet Man, when red-haired widows are riding bicycles and everyone else is on a horse.
Irish people are educated not only about artistry but local history.
Sometimes the archaism of the language when it's spoken is why we are all in love with the Irish today.
As to the old history of Ireland, the first man ever died in Ireland was Partholan, and he is buried, and his greyhound along with him, at some place in Kerry.
I grew up in Ireland, and there were so many things we believed in.
Did you know I staged the first performance in America of At the Hawk's Well?
Irish as a Paddy's pig.
Oh, all kinds of lunacy happens in Ireland, all kinds of lunacy.
Yelling Irish, you can sound like an angry Leprechaun.
[On the Irish:] Strange race ... Don't know what they want, but want it like the devil.
I'm always ready for a change. I'm Irish. I'm a leprechaun.
I'm proud of my Irish heritage and culture.
I think there's something about the Irish experience - that we had to have a sense of humor or die.
The Irish tell the story of a man who arrives at the gates of heaven and asks to be let in St. Peter says, “Of course, just show us your scars.” The man says, “I have no scars”. St. Peter says, “What a pity was there nothing worth fighting for”?
I've only been to Ireland once, and I felt I would wake up with voices in my head, almost like music, and that if I were a songwriter, I would be very inspired.
The problem with being Irish... is having 'Riverdance' on your back. It's a burden at times.
I always gravitate towards anything from Ireland. With Irish lit, I love the use of language, but also in many instances, the Irish writers are writing about people and circumstances that I can relate to.
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.
Tears and laughter, they are so much Gaelic to me.
My father was totally Irish, and so I went to Ireland once. I found it to be very much like New York, for it was a beautiful country, and both the women and men were good-looking.
Leroy bet me I couldn't find a pot of gold at the end, and I told him that was a stupid bet because the rainbow was enough.
I feel more and more the time wasted that is not spent in Ireland.
Dublin is really fun, and Irish people are hilarious.
Growing up, I was brought up around Irish music, Irish traditions.
Ireland, sir, for good or evil, is like no other place under heaven, and no man can touch its sod or breathe its air without becoming better or worse.
