Irish America Quotes

“In the 1870s it was estimated that a third of all the money in the Irish economy came from money sent by kindhearted Irish servant girls to their families. The Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank in New York alone would send more than $30 million to Ireland between 1850 and 1880. Many families in Ireland owed their survival to what they gratefully called the "American Letter," a lifeline that helped them cope with brutal poverty and lack of opportunity.”
― Rashers Tierney, F*ck You I'm Irish: Why We Irish Are Awesome

“Scarlett O'Hara's father, Thomas, is an Irish immigrant who names his plantation Tara, after the home of the High Kings in Ireland. In an appealing nod to the "luck of the Irish," we read that Thomas O'Hara won his lands in a card game!”
― Rashers Tierney, F*ck You I'm Irish: Why We Irish Are Awesome

“It's often said that "the Irish built America. The truth is, not only did they build it, they also manufactured, repaired, and cleaned it, especially in the decades before and after the potato famine.”
― Rashers Tierney, F*ck You I'm Irish: Why We Irish Are Awesome

“Whether serving in the military, building industry, organizing politically, or making their way in any other part of American culture, the Irish were determined to create a free and prosperous life for themselves. This Irish-American struggle led to social and political progress for all Americans.”
― Rashers Tierney, F*ck You I'm Irish: Why We Irish Are Awesome

“The Irish have played a part in every military conflict on American soil since the founding of the republic. Donegal-born Richard Montgomery was the first American general to lose his life in the Revolutionary War. In fact, one British major general at the time told the House of Commons that "half the rebel Continental Army was from Ireland.”
― Rashers Tierney, F*ck You I'm Irish: Why We Irish Are Awesome

“With our gift for language and willingness to stand up and be counted, as well as heaps of charm and charisma, we Irish have long been an integral part of American political life.”
― Rashers Tierney, F*ck You I'm Irish: Why We Irish Are Awesome

“In 1903, Sir James Power, Lord Mayor of Dublin, was surprised to note on a transatlantic trip that the typical Irish immigrant in America was now "not merely a hewer of wood and a drawer of water." In fact, he remarked that they are "found occupying...respectable positions in society.”
― Rashers Tierney, F*ck You I'm Irish: Why We Irish Are Awesome

“Cork-born Mother Jones was renowned as a dramatic orator who relished props, curses, and all kinds of attention-getting tactics--sound at all Irish to you? She exaggerated her age, referring to strikers not too much younger than herself as "my boys" and donning frumpish costumes to emphasize her "motherly appearance.”
― Rashers Tierney, F*ck You I'm Irish: Why We Irish Are Awesome

“Nellie Cashman, from Midleton, County Cork, made a mint providing "bed, board, and booze" to the gold and silver miners all over the western US and Canada. She was a prodigious entrepreneur, running and owning numerous stores, restaurants, and hotels in various mining settlements. While working the bar of her hotel, canny Nellie was able to buy a number of very lucrative mines by discretely listening to the gossip of drunken prospectors.”
― Rashers Tierney, F*ck You I'm Irish: Why We Irish Are Awesome

“Mr.s Kennedy toiled as a domestic servant and used her savings to start a notions and stationery store, which she gradually and skillfully expanded. Bridget's hard work and sacrifice, making her way as a widow in a strange land, established the funds her son P.J. Kennedy used to finance his liquor business. This enterprise was to become the basis of the family's future progress and put Bridget's descendants on a path that dazzled America and forever changed the political scene.”
― Rashers Tierney, F*ck You I'm Irish: Why We Irish Are Awesome

“The Irish loved their cabbage. The Germans pickled their cabbage and the Italians made spaghetti sauce and listed to the opera.”
― Captain Hank Bracker, Suppressed I Rise