Irish Quotes, the Greatest Wits of Ireland

Irish quotes come in many guises and like a lot of facts about Ireland,facts are that because of their genius and wit there are enough of these quotes to fill many categories.


There are general,funny,famous and drinking quotes. The list of famous Irish quotes could go on and on.

So as far as is practical I will attempt to categorise them approximately to those categories. Many of these quotes will be fairly well known and the person quoted will probably be even more well known so if you want to find out some facts about the people behind the quotes check out our articles on Ireland,facts about famous Irish people,the writers.

You will find some good information there that will give you a little more insight into some of the people behind the quotes.

Irish quotes from George Bernard Shaw

The more I see of the moneyed classes, the more I understand the guillotine.

Martryrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability.

The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

The things most people want to know about are none of their business.

A pessimist is a man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself.

Better keep yourself clean and bright.You are the window through which you must see the world.

I enjoy convalescence. It is the part that makes the illness worthwhile.

I can forgive Alfred Nobel for having invented dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize.

A dramatic critic is a man that leaves no turn unstoned.

Irish quotes from Oscar Wilde

Bigamamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

We are all in the gutter,but some of us are looking at the stars.

All art is quite useless.

A man cannot be too careful in his choice of enemies.

The English country gentleman galloping after a fox, the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

Nothing succeeds like excess.

Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing.

Irish Quotes from Jonathan Swift

There is none so blind as they that will not see.

That is as well said as if I had said it myself.

Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches to conceive how others can be in want.

We have just religion enough to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.

One of the very best rules of conversation is to never say anything which any of the company wish had been left unsaid.

Real vision is the ability to see the invisible.

Funny Irish Quotes

What one person might find funny another might not, so like most things these funny Irish quotes are my version of funny. Hopefully though you will find at least some of these Irish quotes funny.

She wears her clothes as if they were thrown on with a pitchfork. ~ Oliver Goldsmith.

All publicity is good,except an obituary notice.~ Brendan Behan.

The play was a great success but the audience was a disaster.~ Oscar Wilde

The English have a miraculous power of turning wine into water.~ Oscar Wilde.

True friends stab you in the front.~ Oscar Wilde

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable we have to alter it every six months. ~ Oscar Wilde.

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever.~ Sigmund Freud about the Irish.

I have never seen a situation so dismal that a policeman couldn't make it worse. ~ Brendan Behan

I often quote myself, it adds spice to my conversation. ~George Bernard Shaw.

I can resist everything except temptation. Another Oscar Wilde quote

Good Irish Drinking quotes

I often sit back and think," I wish I'd done that", and find out later that I already have. ~ famous Irish actor Richard Harris

Work is the curse of the drinking classes. ~ Oscar Wilde.

The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk,they're sober. ~ W.B.Yeats

Too young to die. Too drunk to live. Quote from Renee McCall on the death of Irish writer Brendan Behan.

Don't forget you can get more facts about these famous Irish people from our Ireland Facts section.



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