Ireland is but an island off the coast of Cape Clear.

On the island of Ireland the issue of the border is more than just a practical issue; it is about emotion, history and politics.

— Penny Mordaunt

In Tasmania, an island the size of Ireland whose primeval forests astonished 19th-century Europeans, an incomprehensible ecological tragedy is being played out.

— Richard Flanagan

But I believe Ireland is getting more European, and the young are looking toward Europe for jobs - just as there are a lot…

— Jean Kennedy Smith

Ireland is a small but insuppressible island half an hour nearer the sunset than Great Britain.

— Tom Kettle

Yes, but also one of the problems for a novelist in Ireland is the fact that there are no formal manners. I mean some…

— John McGahern

Geographically, Ireland is a medium-sized rural island that is slowly but steadily being consumed by sheep.

— Dave Barry

I feel like the luckiest child in the world because I got to grow up in Ireland. In summer is when you really grow…

— Olivia Wilde

I love our shared island, our shared Ireland and its core decency. I love it for its imagination and its celebration of the endless…

— Michael D. Higgins

“It is an ancient land, honoured in the archives of civilisation. Every great European race has sent its stream to the river of the…

— Thomas Davis

Ireland and England are like two sisters; I would have them embrace like one brother.

— Boyle Roche

“He decides it is better to die in Ireland than in Paris because in Ireland the outdoors looks like the outdoors and gravestones are…

— Alison MacLeod

“I think being a woman is like being Irish... Everyone says you're important and nice, but you take second place all the time.”

— Iris Murdoch

“Do you know what Ireland is?' asked Stephen with cold violence. 'Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow.”

— James Joyce

Ireland starts for me with the end of 'The Dead,' which my father read to me from his desk in his basement office in…

— John Jeremiah Sullivan

“Ireland is probably named the “Emerald Isle” because there are lots of precious stones found there, such as sapphires and rubies.”

— Jarod Kintz