Seán O'Casey > Quotes

“Laughter is wine for the soul - laughter soft, or loud and deep, tinged through with seriousness - the hilarious declaration made by man that life is worth living.”
― Sean O'Casey

“When it was dark, you always carried the sun in your hand for me.”
― Sean O'Casey, THREE MORE PLAYS BY SEAN O'CASEY:THE SILVER TASSIE;PURPLE DUST;RED ROSES FOR ME [Paperback]

“All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.”
― Seán O'Casey

“It's I who know that well: when it was dark, you always carried the sun in your hand for me.”
― Sean O'Casey, Red Roses for Me

“What time has been wasted during man's destiny in the struggle to decide what man's next world will be like! The keener the effort to find out, the less he knew about the present one he lived in. The one lovely world he knew, lived in, that gave him all he had, was, according to preacher and prelate, the one to be least in his thoughts. He was recommended, ordered, from the day of his birth to bid goodbye to it. Oh, we have had enough of the abuse of this fair earth! It is no sad truth that this should be our home. Were it but to give us simple shelter, simple clothing, simple food, adding the lily and the rose, the apple and the pear, it would be a fit home for mortal or immortal man.”
― Sean O'Casey

“The whole world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.”
― Sean O'Casey

“Politics has slain its thousands, but religion has slain its ten thousands.”
― Seán O'Casey

“All the world's a stage, and most of us are desperately under-rehearsed.”
― Sean O'Casey

“There is a deeper life than the life we see and hear with the open ear and the open eye and this is the life important and the life everlasting.”
― Seán O'Casey

“That’s the Irish People all over - they treat a serious thing as a joke and a joke as a serious thing.”
― Seán O'Casey, The Shadow of a Gunman

“A sober black shawl hides her body entirely
Touched by the sun and the salt spray of the sea
But down in the darkness a slim hand so lovely
Carries a rich bunch of red roses for me

Her petticoat simple and her feet are but bare
And all that she has is but neat and scanty
But stars in the deep of her eyes are exclaiming
I carry a rich bunch of red roses for thee

No arrogant gem sits enthroned on her forehead
Or swings from a white ear for all men to see
But jewelled desire in a bosom so pearly
Carries a rich bunch of red roses for me”
― Seán O'Casey

“the whole worl's in a state o' chassis”
― Seán O'Casey, Juno And the Paycock

“It's my rule never to lose my temper till it would be detrimental to keep it.”
― Seán O'Casey

“I don't believe he was ever dhrunk in his life - sure he's not like a Christian at all!”
― Seán O'Casey, Juno And the Paycock

“SEAMUS: It’s the civilians that suffer, when there’s an ambush they don’t know where to run. Shot in the back to save the British Empire. Shot in the breast to save the soul of Ireland. I believe in the freedom of Ireland and that England has no right to be here, but I draw the line when I hear the gunmen blowing about dying for the people when it’s the people that are dying for the gunmen. With all due respect to the gunmen, I don’t want them to die for me.”
― Seán O'Casey