Brian Friel > Quotes

“To remember everything is a form of madness.”
― Brian Friel, Translations

“It is not the literal past, the 'facts' of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language.”
― Brian Friel

“Yes, it is a rich language, Lieutenant, full of the mythologies of fantasy and hope and self-deception - a syntax opulent with tomorrows. It is our response to mud cabins and a diet of potatoes; our only method of replying to... inevitabilities.”
― Brian Friel, Translations

“...that it is not the literal past, the 'facts' of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language.”
― Brian Friel, Translations

“But remember that words are signals, counters. They are not immortal. And it can happen - to use an image you'll understand - it can happen that a civilisation can be imprisoned in a linguistic contour which no longer matches the landscape of... fact.”
― Brian Friel, Translations

“Even if I did speak Irish, I’d always be considered an outsider here, wouldn’t I? I may learn the password but the language of the tribe will always elude me, won’t it? The private core will always be ...hermetic, won’t it?”
― Brian Friel, Translations

“No matter how long the sun may linger on his long and weary journey, at length evening comes with its sacred song.”
― Brian Friel, Translations

“I went on to propose that our own culture and the classical tongues made a happier conjugation [...] English, I suggested, couldn't really express us.”
― Brian Friel, Translations

“Dancing as if language had surrendered to movement - as if this ritual, this wordless ceremony, was now the way to speak, to whisper private and sacred things, to be in touch with some otherness. Dancing as if the very heart of life and all its hopes might be found in those assuaging notes and those hushed rhythms and in those silent and hypnotic movements. Dancing as if language no longer existed because words were no longer necessary...”
― Brian Friel, Dancing at Lughnasa

“...It drifts in from somewhere far away - a mirage of sound - a dream music that is both heard and imagined; that seems to be both itself and its own echo; a sound so alluring and so mesmeric that the afternoon is bewitched, maybe haunted, by it. And, what is so strange about that memory is that everybody seems to be floating on those sweet sounds , moving rhythmically, languorously, in complete isolation; responding more to the mood of the music than to its beat. When I remember it, I think of it as dancing. Dancing with eyes half closed because to open them would break the spell. Dancing as if language had surrendered to movement - as if this ritual, this wordless ceremony, was now the way to speak, to whisper private and sacred things, to be in touch with some otherness. dancing as if the very heart of life and all its hopes might be found in those assuaging notes and those hushed rhythms and in those silent and hypnotic movements. Dancing as if language no longer existed because words were no longer necessary...”
― Brian Friel

“Come on man, speak in English.

For the benefit of the colonist?

He's a decent man.

Aren't they all at some level?”
― Brian Friel, Translations

“A-that it is not the literal past, the 'facts ' of history, that shape us, but images of that past embodied in language.
B-we must never cease renewing those images; because once we do, we fossilise.”
― Brian Friel, Translations

“Say anything at all – I love the sound of your speech.”
― Brian Friel

“He then explained that he does not speak Irish. Latin? I asked. None. Greek? Not a syllable. He speaks - on his own admission - only English; and to his credit he seemed suitably verecund - James? Verecundus - humble.”
― Brian Friel, Translations

“Take care, Owen. To remember everything is a form of madness.”
― Brian Friel, Translations

“I love you Aggie… more than chocolate biscuits.”
― Brian Friel, Dancing at Lughnasa

“How did I get involved? As a young man I chanced to flirt with it and it possessed me.”
― Brian Friel, Faith Healer

“And he wants to bring me up to the back hills next Sunday - up to Lough Anna. His father has a boat there. And I'm thinking maybe I'll bring a bottle of milk with me. And I've enough money saved to buy a packet of chocolate biscuits.”
― Brian Friel, Dancing at Lughnasa

“I had some envy of the man who could use the word "chicanery" with such confidence.”
― Brian Friel, Faith Healer

“I love you, Aggie! I love you more than chocolate biscuits!”
― Brian Friel, Dancing at Lughnasa

“Even if I did speak Irish, I’d always be considered an outsider here, wouldn’t I? I may learn the password but the language of the tribe will always elude me, won’t it?”
― Brian Friel, Translations

“Stand your ground! Don't move! Don't panic! This is your city! This is your city!”
― Brian Friel, The Freedom of the City