"I'm an Ulsterman, of planter stock. I was born in the island of Ireland, so secondarily I'm an Irishman. I was born in the British archipelago and English is my native tongue, so I am British. The British archipelago consists of offshore islands to the continent of Europe, so I'm European. This is my hierarchy of values and so far as I am concerned, anyone who omits one step in that sequence of values is falsifying the situation."
John Hewitt (poet)

January 1, 1970

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Original Language: English

Sources

In The Irish Times (4 July 1974)

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Hewitt_(poet)