Northern Ireland quotes:

+1
Share
Pin
Like
Send
Share
  • They want to derail peace because they want to plunge Northern Ireland back into armed conflict. -- Peter Mandelson
  • There is not a single injustice in Northern Ireland that is worth the loss of a single British soldier or a single Irish citizen either. -- James Callaghan
  • There are two traditions in Northern Ireland. There are two main religious denominations. But there is only one true moral denomination. And it wants peace. -- David Trimble
  • It... is the best opportunity we've had in the last 25 years to bring about a settlement in Northern Ireland, and I think we should leave no stone unturned to achieve that. -- Dick Spring
  • In my teens, I joined the Parachute Regiment. I jumped out of lots of airplanes, as much as the Government budget would allow us to. I did two active tours of duty: Northern Ireland, and then the Falklands war. -- Mark Burnett
  • When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, 'Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe? -- Quentin Crisp
  • How can I intimidate Tiger Woods? I mean, the guy's got 75 or whatever PGA Tour wins, 14 majors. He's been the biggest thing ever in our sport. How could some little 23-year-old from Northern Ireland with a few wins come up and intimidate him. -- Rory McIlroy
  • The big missing part of the jig-saw is to get the assembly back up and running here in Northern Ireland, to get shared government back in business, that is my objective, and we await the IRA statement to see if this will trigger a new dawn. -- Peter Hain
  • Home will always be Northern Ireland but my schedule means for the next few years I won't be there as much. I can't do the same things that I did a year ago. That is I'm something conscious of, but I'm not sad about it. It's fine. -- Rory McIlroy
  • What were once only hopes for the future have now come to pass; it is almost exactly 13 years since the overwhelming majority of people in Ireland and Northern Ireland voted in favour of the agreement signed on Good Friday 1998, paving the way for Northern Ireland to become the exciting and inspirational place that it is today. -- Queen Elizabeth II
  • Jonny Evans plays sort of international football with Northern Ireland -- Phil Thompson
  • Anyone born and bred in Northern Ireland can't be too optimistic. -- Seamus Heaney
  • Queen's University flies the flag for the arts in Northern Ireland and beyond. -- Liam Neeson
  • I think the Northern Ireland accent is one of the most beautiful in the world. -- Colum McCann
  • It's a complicated relationship with the place one grows up in, particularly if it's Northern Ireland. -- James Nesbitt
  • You know, the pessimism which exists now in the Middle East existed in Northern Ireland, but we stayed at it. -- George J. Mitchell
  • The need for peace in Northern Ireland goes well beyond political stability. It now speaks to regional Europe and even global stability. -- Hillary Clinton
  • My grandfather was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who lived in Northern Ireland and apparently when he sang in the synagogue he made everyone cry. -- Jessie Ware
  • It's an extraordinary thing, this tiny little province of Northern Ireland, where carnage happened. And I was part of it. I grew up in it. -- Liam Neeson
  • I believe that the Union Flag should change now to reflect the four nations of the United Kingdom - England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales -- Ian Lucas
  • All the way through, we have been willing to take risks, provided at the end of it we can get a decent lasting settlement in Northern Ireland -- Tony Blair
  • Loyalism, or Unionism, or Protestantism, or whatever you want to call it, in Northern Ireland - it operates not as a class system, but a caste system. -- Seamus Heaney
  • My point is there's a hidden Scotland in anyone who speaks the Northern Ireland speech. It's a terrific complicating factor, not just in Northern Ireland, but Ireland generally. -- Seamus Heaney
  • Obviously one of the things that poets from Northern Ireland and beyond - had to try to make sense of was what was happening on a day-to-day political level -- Paul Muldoon
  • When the problems in Northern Ireland started, it was not a question of Protestantism or Catholicism, because the Catholic church was the only church at that time-it was a nationalist conflict. -- Harri Holkeri
  • On the Northern Ireland question, for instance, the British and Irish governments prohibit media contact with members of the IRA, but we have always gone ahead, believing in the right to information. -- Kate Adie
  • My dad grew up in Banbridge, Northern Ireland, desperate to get to London. I grew up in London, so I don't know what it's like to yearn for the big city from a small town. -- Daniel Radcliffe
  • I would say that something important for me and for my generation in Northern Ireland was the 1947 Education Act, which allowed students who won scholarships to go on to secondary schools and thence to university. -- Seamus Heaney
  • Funnily enough, Northern Ireland is a great example of where politics can win over conflict. The decision to down arms and follow a political path would have been unthinkable once. It shows just what is possible. -- James Nesbitt
  • Since the Protestant majority in Northern Ireland wants to remain a part of Great Britain, and since Ireland itself has shown little interest in reunification, the IRA's prospects for success through political channels have always been limited. -- James Surowiecki
  • We're nondenominational. I come from Northern Ireland, and we've had religious wars for years. I didn't want to create an illusion that my God is better than your God. So our show is a spiritual show, not a religious show. -- Roma Downey
  • For far too long, the people of Northern Ireland have been denied an equal voice and equal representation in government. It is time for the Assembly and Executive to be up and running and the people's business to be addressed. -- James T. Walsh
  • That feeds anger, and I mean when we went and at last thank heavens got towards peace in Northern Ireland we went for justice within Northern Ireland as well as using security well, as well as a political settlement, but surely that is the lesson. -- Clare Short
  • The basic policy of the British Government was that since the majority of people in Northern Ireland wished to remain in the United Kingdom, that was that. We asked what would happen if the majority wanted something else, if the majority wanted to see Irish unity. -- John Hume
  • We'll be launching the new public prosecution service in Northern Ireland tomorrow. I'll be doing it in Belfast tomorrow. This is an entirely new era, in which criminal justice now exercised on an equal basis, not the old basis in which community division was a feature. -- Peter Hain
  • When you look at what I've done here, you see a consistent theme of reforms which is not driven by any dogma from across the water, but a radical agenda to make sure Northern Ireland's people enjoy equal opportunities, driven by the values of social justice. -- Peter Hain
  • Can any of us refute the wisdom of Madison and the other framers? Can anyone look at the carnage in Iran, the bloodshed in Northern Ireland or the bombs bursting in Lebanon and yet question the dangers of injecting religious issues into the affairs of state? -- Barry Goldwater
  • I am a proud product of Irish golf and the Golfing Union of Ireland and am hugely honoured to have come from very rich Irish sporting roots... I am also a proud Ulsterman who grew up in Northern Ireland. That is my background and always will be. -- Rory McIlroy
  • You can get on with your job. I'm going to get on with mine. And mine is to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland, that's what they expect from me and I'm not going to be deflected by interesting academic or media speculation or attempts to take the whole debate back. -- Peter Hain
  • This is the great thing about Northern Ireland. I walk down the street and people stop me and say things like, 'I know you. You're that wee golfer, aren't you?' I say, 'Yeah, that's me.' They say, 'Keep it up, wee man.' It's very funny and that's why I want to stay here as long as possible. -- Rory McIlroy
  • Ireland and its people have much to be proud of. Yet every land and its people have moments of shame. Dealing with the failures of our past, as a country, as a Church, or as an individual is never easy. Our struggle to heal the wounds of decades of violence, injury and painful memory in Northern Ireland are more than ample evidence of this. -- Sean Brady
  • In Northern Ireland, helicopters are not usually used to promote poetry. -- Seamus Heaney
  • Your name is Sanchez, what are you doing playing for Northern Ireland? -- Lawrie Sanchez
  • Barney was interested in bringing professional boxing back to Northern Ireland in a big way. -- Barry McGuigan
  • Northern Ireland are ten minutes away from their finest victory. There's 15 minutes to go here. -- John Motson
  • Northern Ireland is part of Ireland, not Britain, as can clearly be seen from aerial photographs. -- Jeremy Hardy
  • I was born in Northern Ireland in 1951. I lived most of my life there until 1986 or 1987 -- Paul Muldoon
  • People in Northern Ireland vote for their church, they don't vote with their heads; it is ridiculous. -- Frank Carson
  • If Northern Ireland had better weather, it would be like New Zealand. It's an immensely beautiful country. -- Ian Beattie
  • We dont vote in Northern Ireland for what we want, we vote against what we dont want. -- David
  • Northern Ireland is the worldâ??s best kept secret, both in the character of its people and its scenery. -- Liam Neeson
  • I believe that Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule. -- Ian Paisley
  • I loved my time growing up in Northern Ireland doing youth drama, that is where it all began for me. -- James Nesbitt
  • I grew up in Derry, of course, and it was - Derry was the worst example of Northern Ireland's discrimination. -- John Hume
  • The flight I'm most excited about is the one that takes me back to Northern Ireland to visit family and friends. -- Rory McIlroy
  • In Northern Ireland, I truly, effortlessly, knew who I was. I knew where I belonged. I felt completely and utterly secure. -- Kenneth Branagh
  • That's football, Mike, Northern Ireland have had several chances and haven't scored but England have had no chances and scored twice. -- Trevor Brooking
  • Ever since I left Northern Ireland, I've always been pretty comfortable on my own, which contradicts a lot of people's perceptions of me. -- James Nesbitt
  • ... in Northern Ireland, if you don't have basic Christianity, rather than merely religion, all you get out of the experience of living is bitterness. -- Bernadette Devlin
  • Northern Ireland were in white, which was quite appropriate because three inches of snow had to be cleared from the pitch before kick off -- John Motson
  • We're on the verge of civil war in Northern Ireland. Why? Because if you take away the forums of democracy you don't have anything left. -- Ian Paisley
  • I was one of the many kids in Northern Ireland who grew up in the countryside and had an idyllic childhood well away from the Troubles. -- James Nesbitt
  • The reality of life in Northern Ireland is that if you were Protestant, you learned British history, and if you were Catholic, you learned Irish history in school. -- James Nesbitt
  • On the other hand, at some level the mass of unresolved issues in Northern Ireland does influence the fact that there are so many good writers in the place -- Paul Muldoon
  • On the other hand, at some level the mass of unresolved issues in Northern Ireland does influence the fact that there are so many good writers in the place. -- Paul Muldoon
  • Obviously one of the things that poets from Northern Ireland and beyond - had to try to make sense of was what was happening on a day-to-day political level. -- Paul Muldoon
  • When people are faced with a choice between the Northern Ireland they have got and the perfect Northern Ireland, they complain. But in the real world that isn't the choice. -- John Reid
  • In Northern Ireland, people said there would never be a solution. But once people begin to have the political will and force their governments to sit down, it can happen. -- Mairead Corrigan
  • I was walking across King's Cross station when a drunken Irishman came stumbling up and flung his arms around me. He wanted to thank me for the peace process in Northern Ireland. -- Ann Widdecombe
  • My dad was a keen actor when he was young; my auntie is heavily involved in amateur dramatics back in Northern Ireland, and my great aunt was a woman called Greer Garson. -- Jamie Dornan
  • Journalism took me around the world. I worked in London for ten years and reported on the collapse of the Soviet Union, the troubles in Northern Ireland, and the first Gulf War. -- Michael Robotham
  • In coming to that agreement, my party had a clear philosophy throughout. In Northern Ireland, we should have institutions that respected the differences of the people and that gave no victory to either side. -- John Hume
  • The external reality and inner dynamic of happenings in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1974 were symptomatic of change, violent change admittedly, but change nevertheless, and for the minority living there, change had been long overdue. -- Seamus Heaney
  • My father was from Northern Ireland, and coming from somewhere like that, your faith defines you. That's something we don't really understand outside Northern Ireland, but because of my parents and grandparents, I've experienced it. -- Anna Maxwell Martin
  • The reality is that the nationalist community in Northern Ireland were treated almost like animals by the unionist community. They were not treated like human beings. It was like the Nazis treatment of the Jews. -- Alec Reid
  • My job now, as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, is to take this process forward, and that I'm determined to do, whatever old clippings you dig out and whatever old quotes you put before me. -- Peter Hain
  • The basis on which the Good Friday agreement was constructed was in addressing those problems in the history of Northern Ireland, the social and constitutional problems as well as the military problems that have been unaddressed for centuries. -- John Reid
  • In the Middle East, Iraq , Sudan , the former Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland, and many other places in the world , religion has been so divisive that people have killed one another, believing they were doing the work of God . -- John C. Danforth
  • J.P. Donleavy - now he's one writer I am consistent with. He's written books that I can definitely connect with. He has amazing insights which other people missed out on. Even with his descriptions of Northern Ireland. -- Van Morrison
  • I am an atheist. I was born a Catholic, but after I had traveled to Northern Ireland with some Catholic friends, and we had a horrible experience with the English Protestant police, I lost all taste for formal religion. -- Guy Laliberte
  • On my Wikipedia page, it used to say I was born in Belfast, Ireland, then it said Belfast, Northern Ireland, and then it said Belfast, U.K. So there was a little war going on about where Belfast is located. -- Adrian McKinty
  • The United Kingdom and the European Union will remain indispensable partners of the United States even as they begin negotiating their ongoing relationship to ensure continued stability, security and prosperity for Europe, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the world. -- Barack Obama
  • Northern Ireland still suffers from its past, and it will take generations to escape sectarianism and for violence to end totally. Nonetheless, it is in a different place now than during the Troubles, and it will not go back to the old days. -- Jonathan Powell
  • History, well taught, is the demythologising of the past... Take any important issue of our time - Northern Ireland, Nuclear Disarmament, Race, The Welfare State, South Africa - and it becomes impossible to seriously confront any of them without understanding their historical background. -- Alan Bullock
  • The basic policy of the British Government was that since the majority of people in Northern Ireland wished to remain in the United Kingdom, that was that. We asked what would happen if the majority wanted something else, if the majority wanted to see Irish unity -- John Hume
  • Well, it has done terrifying things. Religious ideas are inflammatory in a way that I find difficult to understand. There are very few wars over the theory of relativity. Very few heated arguments, for that matter. Whereas, in Northern Ireland, they are killing one another over religion. -- Quentin Crisp
  • I am a proud product of Irish golf and the Golfing Union of Ireland and am hugely honoured to have come from very rich Irish sporting roots I am also a proud Ulsterman who grew up in Northern Ireland. That is my background and always will be. -- Rory McIlroy
  • My parents were Northern Ireland Labour party people. We read the 'Guardian' and the 'New Statesman,' listened to the BBC. The house was full of books. We didn't get a television until 'That Was The Week That Was' started. There was nothing to do but read. -- Tom Paulin
  • I've never put Northern Ireland into a novel because it's not my territory. I come from the South, so my imaginative territory is very much the Republic of Ireland rather than the North. Even though, if I wrote a novel about the North, it might sell more. -- Colm Toibin
  • My mother was one of the most beautiful women, I have to say, of her generation. She was absolutely lovely. She was a very, extremely sensitive, Irish actress. She came from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and she came to London, and she was sort of discovered by several people. -- Angela Lansbury
  • I'm going to be looking forward, asked to be judged on my record, not taken back as has been the - in a sense, the tendency throughout politics in Northern Ireland, is to always look back, always look at what was said a long time ago, instead of looking forward. -- Peter Hain
  • Here is the full list of the banned words I used: active homosexual; career women; Third World; blacks; Asians; Australasia; Bangalore; primitive African tribes; crippled; in a wheelchair; hare lip; ethnic minorities; handicapped; spinster; committed suicide; gypsies; Bombay; illegitimate daughter; air hostess; Siamese twins; Calcutta; deaf ears; illegal asylum seeker; province of Northern Ireland; grandmother; bachelor. -- Rod Liddle
  • When I was growing up, Belfast City Hall was surrounded by security, and we had no access to it. But now, people come in and out of it all the time. On a nice day, office workers and students sit on the lawn outside and have lunch. It's great to see how Northern Ireland has changed. To be part of that is fantastic. -- James Nesbitt
  • I nominate the Reverend Ian Paisley for the position of First Minister of northern Ireland -- Gerry Adams
+1
Share
Pin
Like
Send
Share