singers-from-ireland

"When it comes to rock icons, there is certainly a place for Phil Lynott. In addition to his talents as a brilliant singer/songwriter and rightfully praised for his role as frontman of Thin Lizzy, it’s often forgotten just how good of a bass player Lynott was during his career. He earned acclaim for his pick work on the instrument and those hard-charged solos made popular during the band's exhilarating live sets."

"It’s funny because I live in Ireland and grew up in Ireland, but we just grew up watching American TV and American movies and listening to American music and stuff. I’ve always loved since I was a kid trying to do different accents, so it was just something that was kind of there. And then you work on specifically trying to make it sound from a certain region or whatever. I’ve been lucky that I guess I had a bit of an ear for doing an accent, which was good."

"When we arrived in Havana on April 15, 1959 ( for Our Man in Havana), Cuba was a country experiencing revolutionary change. How could I not meet Che? Che Guevara was often at the Capri Hotel. I would see him at the restaurant and he'd come to my table to say hello. Che would talk about Ireland and all the guerilla warfare that had taken place there. He knew every battle in Ireland and all of its history. Che knew more about Ireland than John Ford did. I couldn't believe it and finally asked, 'Che, you know so much about Ireland and talk constantly about it. How do you know so much?' He said, 'Well, my grandmother's name was Lynch and I learned everything I know about Ireland at her knee.' He was Che Guevara Lynch! That famous cap he wore was an Irish rebel's cap. I spent a great deal of time with Che Guevara while I was in Havana. I believe he was far less a mercenary than he was a freedom fighter. Today he is a symbol for freedom fighters wherever they are in the world and I think he is a good one."

"Errol Flynn was an excellent fencer. He also knew his lines, something I greatly respect in an actor. Of course there was one glaring inconsistency with his professionalism. Errol also drank on the set, something I greatly disliked. You couldn't stop him. If the director prohibited alcohol on the set, then Errol would inject oranges with booze and eat during breaks. Everything good that we got on film was shot early in the day. He started gulping his water early in the morning and by four P.M. was in no shape to continue filming."

"John Ford once wrote to me, "You are the best fucking actress in Hollywood." Then, when later asked by a young film student at UCLA about me, in front of Merian C.Cooper, he replied to his audience, "Her? That bitch couldn't act her way out of a brick shithouse.""

"In February 1953, I was making a second picture with Jeff Chandler, one called War Arrow. Jeff was a real sweetheart, but acting with him was like acting with a broomstick."

"Bette Davis was right—bitches are fun to play."

"There's only one woman who has been my friend over the years, and by that I mean a real friend, like a man would be. That woman is Maureen O'Hara. She's big, lusty, absolutely marvelous—definitely my kind of woman. She's a great guy."

"I began to rationalize marrying Will[iam Houston Price]. 'He comes from a good family. A girl could do worse.' (As it turned out, I couldn't, but I didn't know that yet)"

"There is nothing worse than having your personal problems become somebody else's entertainment."

"Oft, in the stilly night, Ere Slumber's chain has bound me, Fond Memory brings the light Of other days around me; The smiles, the tears, Of boyhood's years, The words of love then spoken; The eyes that shone, Now dimm'd and gone, The cheerful hearts now broken!"

"Come, come," said Tom's father, "at your time of life, There's no longer excuse for thus playing the rake-- It is time you should think, boy, of taking a wife." "Why, so it is father--whose wife shall I take?"

"Go where glory waits thee, But while fame elates thee, Oh! still remember me!"

"Oh! breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade, Where cold and unhonour'd his relics are laid."

"Oh, call it by some better name, For friendship sounds too cold."

"A Persian's heaven is easily made: 'Tis but black eyes and lemonade."

"Just as the mind the erring sense believes, The erring mind, in turn, the sense deceives."

"Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! Jehovah has triumphed—his people are free."

"No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets, But as truly loves on to the close, As the sun-flower turns on her god when he sets The same look which she turn'd when he rose."

"Believe me, if all those endearing young charms Which I gaze on so fondly to-day, Were to change by to-morrow and fleet in my arms, Like fairy gifts fading away. Thou wouldst still be adored as this moment thou art, Let thy loveliness fade as it will, And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart, Would entwine itself verdantly still."

"But there's nothing half so sweet in life As love's young dream."

"The tribute most high to a head that is royal, Is love from a heart that loves liberty too."

"Eyes of unholy blue."

"'Tis the last rose of Summer, Left blooming alone; All her lovely companions Are faded and gone."

"When true hearts lie wither'd And fond ones are flown, Oh, who would inhabit This bleak world alone?"

"The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone, In the ranks of death you'll find him; His father's sword he has girded on, And his wild harp slung behind him."

"And the best of all ways To lengthen our days Is to steal a few hours from the night, my dear!"

"You may break, you may shatter the vase, if you will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still."

"No eye to watch, and no tongue to wound us All earth forgot, and all heaven around us."

"The light that lies In woman's eyes, Has been my heart's undoing."

"All that's bright must fade,— The brightest and the fleetest; All that's sweet was made, But to be lost when sweetest."

"Patience lingers o'er the weedy shore, And, mutely waiting till the storm be o'er, Turns to young Hope, who still directs his eye To some blue spot, just breaking in the sky!"

"Rich and rare were the gems she wore, And a bright gold ring on her wand she bore."

"This narrow isthmus 'twixt two boundless seas, The past, the future,—two eternities!"

"Man for his glory To ancestry flies; But Woman's bright story Is told in her eyes."

"Life is a waste of wearisome hours Which seldom the rose of enjoyment adorns; And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers, Is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns."

"But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last."

"There's a bower of roses by Bendemeer's stream, And the nightingale sings round it all the day long; In the time of my childhood 'twas like a sweet dream, To sit in the roses and hear the bird's song."

"Some flow'rets of Eden ye still inherit, But the trail of the serpent is over them all."

"Like the stain'd web that whitens in the sun, Grow pure by being purely shone upon."

"One morn a Peri at the gate Of Eden stood disconsolate."

"Take all the pleasures of all the spheres, And multiply each through endless years,— One minute of heaven is worth them all."

"But the trail of the serpent is over them all."

"Oh, ever thus, from childhood's hour, I 've seen my fondest hopes decay; I never loved a tree or flower But 't was the first to fade away. I never nurs'd a dear gazelle, To glad me with its soft black eye, But when it came to know me well And love me, it was sure to die."

"Paradise itself were dim And joyless, if not shared with him!"

"It is only to the happy that tears are a luxury."

"Like Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye, But turn to ashes on the lips."

"Oh for a tongue to curse the slave Whose treason, like a deadly blight, Comes o'er the councils of the brave, And blasts them in their hour of might!"

"Beholding heaven, and feeling hell."

"What though youth gave love and roses, Age still leaves us friends and wine."