Ireland is known as a wonderful source of written inspiration for us in the Western world. I remember reading many Irish writers back in school (I bet you do, too).

So I thought St. Patrick’s Day would be a perfect time to pay homage by re-visiting some of my favorite writing quotes from the land of shamrocks. Won’t you join me?

“He wanted to cry quietly but not for himself: for the words, so beautiful and sad, like music.”  – James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

“If you have the words, then there’s always the chance that you’ll find the way.” – Seamus Heaney

“The words ran away from me.” – Edna O’Brien

“When you are old and gray and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;”

– William Butler Yeats, “When You are Old”

“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train.” – Oscar Wilde, The Importance of being Earnest

‘Writing is learning to say nothing, more cleverly each day.’ – William Allingham

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