Irishman Quotes by James Stephens

“Even the wind had ceased, and there seemed to be nothing in the world but the darkness and himself. In that gigantic blackness, in…

— James Stephens

A Leprecaun without a pot of gold is like a rose without perfume, a bird without a wing, or an inside without an outside.

— James Stephens

Originality does not consist in saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying exactly what you think yourself.

— James Stephens

The duty of a lyrical poet is not to express or explain, it is to intensify life.

— James Stephens

A man and a woman may become quite intimate in a quarter of an hour. Almost certainly will they endeavour to explain themselves to…

— James Stephens

“The toxin generates the anti-toxin. The end lies concealed in the beginning. All bodies grow around a skeleton. Life is a petticoat about death.”

— James Stephens

A sword, a spade, and a thought should never be allowed to rust.

— James Stephens

“But outside of the North of Ireland there is no religious question, and in the North it is fundamentally more political than religious.”

— James Stephens

I hear a sudden cry of pain! There is a rabbit in a snare.

— James Stephens

Tell me your past, my beloved, for a man is his past, and is to be known by it.

— James Stephens

Finality is death. Perfection is finality. Nothing is perfect. There are lumps in it.

— James Stephens

Life runs to death as its goal, and we should go towards that next stage of experience either carelessly as to what must be,…

— James Stephens

Women and birds are able to see without turning their heads, and that is indeed a necessary provision for they are both surrounded by…

— James Stephens

Men come of age at sixty, women at fifteen.

— James Stephens

“Curiosity will conquer fear more than bravery will.”

— James Stephens