Welsh Quotes

“Where is the graveyard of dead gods? What lingering mourner waters their mounds? There was a time when Jupiter was the king of the gods, and any man who doubted his puissance was ipso facto a barbarian and an ignoramus. But where in all the world is there a man who worships Jupiter today? And who of Huitzilopochtli? In one year - and it is no more than five hundred years ago - 50,000 youths and maidens were slain in sacrifice to him. Today, if he is remembered at all, it is only by some vagrant savage in the depths of the Mexican forest. Huitzilopochtli, like many other gods, had no human father; his mother was a virtuous widow; he was born of an apparently innocent flirtation that she carried out with the sun.

When he frowned, his father, the sun, stood still. When he roared with rage, earthquakes engulfed whole cities. When he thirsted he was watered with 10,000 gallons of human blood. But today Huitzilopochtli is as magnificently forgotten as Allen G. Thurman. Once the peer of Allah, Buddha and Wotan, he is now the peer of Richmond P. Hobson, Alton B. Parker, Adelina Patti, General Weyler and Tom Sharkey.

Speaking of Huitzilopochtli recalls his brother Tezcatlipoca. Tezcatlipoca was almost as powerful; he consumed 25,000 virgins a year.

Lead me to his tomb: I would weep, and hang a couronne des perles. But who knows where it is? Or where the grave of Quetzalcoatl is? Or Xiuhtecuhtli? Or Centeotl, that sweet one? Or Tlazolteotl, the goddess of love? Of Mictlan? Or Xipe? Or all the host of Tzitzimitl? Where are their bones? Where is the willow on which they hung their harps? In what forlorn and unheard-of Hell do they await their resurrection morn? Who enjoys their residuary estates? Or that of Dis, whom Caesar found to be the chief god of the Celts? Of that of Tarves, the bull? Or that of Moccos, the pig? Or that of Epona, the mare? Or that of Mullo, the celestial jackass? There was a time when the Irish revered all these gods, but today even the drunkest Irishman laughs at them.

But they have company in oblivion: the Hell of dead gods is as crowded
as the Presbyterian Hell for babies. Damona is there, and Esus, and
Drunemeton, and Silvana, and Dervones, and Adsullata, and Deva, and
Bellisima, and Uxellimus, and Borvo, and Grannos, and Mogons. All mighty gods in their day, worshipped by millions, full of demands and impositions, able to bind and loose - all gods of the first class. Men labored for generations to build vast temples to them - temples with stones as large as hay-wagons.

The business of interpreting their whims occupied thousands of priests,
bishops, archbishops. To doubt them was to die, usually at the stake.
Armies took to the field to defend them against infidels; villages were burned, women and children butchered, cattle were driven off. Yet in the end they all withered and died, and today there is none so poor to do them reverence.

What has become of Sutekh, once the high god of the whole Nile Valley? What has become of:
Resheph
Anath
Ashtoreth
El
Nergal
Nebo
Ninib
Melek
Ahijah
Isis
Ptah
Anubis
Baal
Astarte
Hadad
Addu
Shalem
Dagon
Sharaab
Yau
Amon-Re
Osiris
Sebek
Molech?

All there were gods of the highest eminence. Many of them are mentioned with fear and trembling in the Old Testament. They ranked, five or six thousand years ago, with Yahweh Himself; the worst of them stood far higher than Thor. Yet they have all gone down the chute, and with them the following:
Bilé
Ler
Arianrhod
Morrigu
Govannon
Gunfled
Sokk-mimi
Nemetona
Dagda
Robigus
Pluto
Ops
Meditrina
Vesta

You may think I spoof. That I invent the names. I do not. Ask the rector to lend you any good treatise on comparative religion: You will find them all listed. They were gods of the highest standing and dignity-gods of civilized peoples-worshiped and believed in by millions. All were omnipotent, omniscient and immortal.

And all are dead.”
― H.L. Mencken, A Mencken Chrestomathy

“Do you miss Wales?” Tessa inquired.
Will shrugged lightly. “What’s to miss? Sheep and singing,” he said. “And the ridiculous language. Fe hoffwn i fod mor feddw, fyddai ddim yn cofio fy enw.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means ‘I wish to get so drunk I no longer remember my own name,’ Quite useful.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

“Wizard Howl," said Wizard Suliman. "I must apologize for trying to bite you so often. In the normal way, I wouldn't dream of setting teeth in a fellow countryman.”
― Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle

“Time passes. Listen. Time passes.
Come closer now.
Only you can hear the houses sleeping in the streets in the slow deep salt and silent black, bandaged night.”
― Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood

“Perhaps Welsh fairies stole children and confiscated their vowels.”
― T. Kingfisher, The Twisted Ones

“We asked our Welsh teacher, Mr Llewellyn – who is young, to tell us the Welsh sex words. The Welsh word for sex is ‘rhyw’. It sounds like coughing. He said that, in general, Welsh-speakers use English words. When pressed, he gave us a couple of examples to show us why this might be. ‘Llawes goch’ means ‘red sleeve’. ‘Coes fach’ means ‘small leg’. The phrase would be: ‘Put your small leg in my red sleeve’.”
― Joe Dunthorne, Submarine

“You play with great skill," he said.
"Thank you."
"Is that your favorite piece?"
"It's my most difficult," Helen said, "but not my favorite."
"What do you play when there's no one to hear?"
The gentle question, spoken in that accent with vowels as broad as his shoulders, caused Helen's stomach to tighten pleasurably. Perturbed by the sensation, she was slow to reply. "I don't remember the name of it. A piano tutor taught it to me long ago. For years I've tried to find out what it is, but no one has ever recognized the melody."
"Play it for me."
Calling it up from memory, she played the sweetly haunting chords, her hands gentle on the keys. The mournful chords never failed to stir her, making her heart ache for things she couldn't name. At the conclusion, Helen looked up from the keys and found Winterborne staring at her as if transfixed. He masked his expression, but not before she saw a mixture of puzzlement, fascination, and a hint of something hot and unsettling.
"It's Welsh," he said.
Helen shook her head with a laugh of wondering disbelief. "You know it?"
"'A Ei Di'r Deryn Do.' Every Welshman is born knowing it."
"What is it about?"
"A lover who asks a blackbird to carry a message to his sweetheart."
"Why can't he go to her himself?" Helen realized they were both speaking in hushed tones, as if they were exchanging secrets.
"He can't find her. He's too deep in love- it keeps him from seeing clearly."
"Does the blackbird find her?"
"The song doesn't say," he said with a shrug.
"But I must know the ending to the story," Helen protested.
Winterborne laughed. It was an irresistible sound, rough-soft and sly. When he replied, his accent had thickened. "That's what comes o' reading novels, it is. The story needs no ending. That's not what matters."
"What matters, then?" she dared to ask.
His dark gaze held hers. "That he loves. That he's searching. Like the rest of us poor devils, he has no way of knowing if he'll ever have his heart's desire.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“Our Welsh teacher thinks he is young. He tells us that the Welsh for skiving in town is ‘mitchio yn y dre’.”
― Joe Dunthorne, Submarine

“She straightened and crossed her arms. “I can’t sleep with you,” she blurted.
… “As you please.”
“As you please?” She stepped back, the rough wood of the bench bumping her upper calf. She’d braced herself for a battle and now felt oddly deflated. “You aren’t going to try to talk me into it?”
“I need not talk women into lying with me.”
― Angela Quarles, Must Love Chainmail

“In Wales, they love with abandon.
When a Welsh person loves you,
you'll finally know your potential.
They are different from the Americans,
who are precarious with their love.
They are different from the English,
who are reserved even when you stand
in front of them, naked,
handing them your heart.
The English give you their love in cups:
here, you’ve been good. drink another glass.
But the Welsh, they drown you
in an ocean of love.
You have their attention, their
consideration. You have all of them.
They aren’t even careful to keep any
for themselves. It seems to me
that only the Welsh know how to love,
how to make someone feel loved.
Because when a Welsh person loves you,
you’ll finally know how it feels
to belong to poetry.”
― Kamand Kojouri

“The Sin Eater walks among us, unseen, unheard
Sins of our flesh become sins of Hers
Following Her to the grave, unseen, unheard
The Sin Eater Walks Among Us.”
― Megan Campisi, Sin Eater

“In the yard of the inn, Daffy Cadwaladyr introduced himself. "Short for Davyd," he said pleasantly.

The Londoner looked as if she'd never heard a sillier name in her life.”
― Emma Donoghue, Slammerkin

“Our angst springs from coming from South Wales. It's a longing encapsulated in the Welsh word "hireath". The Irish can usually see the better side of things, they have a sense of wonder. The Welsh don't. We think everything is going to turn out shit.”
― Nicky Wire, A Version of Reason: In Search of Richey Edwards

“Perhaps the Irish are so rich in the voice because twas the only thing the English could not take from them. It is why the Welsh sing.”
― Owen Parry, Faded Coat of Blue

“Taking her left hand, he began to slide the moonstone onto her finger, and hesitated. "How did I propose the first time?" He had been nervous, steeling himself for a possible refusal; he could hardly remember a word he'd said.
Amusement tugged at her lips. "You laid out the advantages on both sides, and explained the ways in which our future goals were compatible."
Rhys absorbed that with chagrin. "No one has ever accused me of being a romantic," he said ruefully.
"If you were, how would you propose?"
He thought for a moment. "I would begin by teaching you a Welsh word. Hiraeth. There's no equivalent in English."
"Hiraeth," she repeated, trying to pronounce it with a tapped R, as he had.
"Aye. It's a longing for something that was lost, or never existed. You feel it for a person or a place, or a time in your life... it's a sadness of the soul. Hiraeth calls to a Welshman even when he's closest to happiness, reminding him that he's incomplete."
Her brow knit with concern. "Do you feel that way?"
"Since the day I was born." He looked down into her small, lovely face. "But not when I'm with you. That's why I want to marry you."
Helen smiled. She reached up to curl her hand around the back of his neck, her caress as light as silk gauze being pulled across his skin. Standing on her toes, she drew his head down and kissed him. Her lips were smoother than petals, all clinging silk and tender dampness. He had the sensation of surrendering, some terrible soft sweetness evading him and rearranging his insides.
Breaking the kiss, Helen lowered back to her heels. "Your proposals are improving," she told him, and extended her hand as he fumbled to slide the ring onto her finger.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Consider the way that so many people nowadays use the word "imaginary" to mean "unreal." In actuality, of course, what we imagine is real in its own way, and it can be powerful and important as well.”
― John Michael Greer, The Druid Path: A Modern Tradition of Nature Spirituality

“Ah, cariad, finally I have you to myself, with a bed behind me, and what do I do?”
― Angela Quarles, Must Love Chainmail

“Give me a sight of you to take back to England with me. I am not speaking Welsh, though indeed it is on the end of my tongue, cariad.”
― Margiad Evans, Country Dance

“El paraíso huele de una forma muy concreta: a alcantarilla.”
― Irvine Welsh

“Y Ddraig Goch ddyry gychwyn," my second muttered under his breath as the three of us stalked away, seeking to shelter ourselves within the slinking shadows.
The corner of my lip turned up at his remark.
The Red Dragon will show the way.”
― K.V. Wilson, Incarnate

“Skinner nodded thoughtfully, then regaining his composure contended, - I've got to say that with the book, it was the snagging bits that interested me most.”
― Irvine Welsh, The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs

“Skinner nodded thoughtfully, then regaining his composure contended, - I've got to say that with the book, it was the shagging bits that interested me most.”
― Irvine Welsh, The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs

“She led them to their pallets, again encircled by other pallets. She sat down, sighing at her aching muscles, and caught his gaze. “You may, er, wrap your arms around me if that will make you feel I am safer.”
He chuckled--a hoarse chuckle, rusty, but a chuckle nonetheless. She’d take it.
“May I indeed?” He lay beside her and pulled her back against him, settling her head on his arm, bunching the other hide up to use as a pillow. “If I must.” His warm sigh tickled across her neck. “After all, I must ensure that pinkie does not wander.”
Would Robert never let her forget that?”
― Angela Quarles, Must Love Chainmail

“She needed a distraction. “Was that your mother?”
The splashing stopped. “Are you going to converse while I bathe?”
“Why not?”
“Feels rather unseemly.”
She laughed, picturing him sitting there, shocked and indignant. “We’re supposed to be married, right?”
“You have a point, however I would rather not discuss her right now.”
“I think you’re evading me.”
“Mayhap. Is it working?”
― Angela Quarles, Must Love Chainmail

“While you live, whatever your state while on earth, act the generous and manly part; and never, never, either manually or with the lash of satire, war with the weak”
― T.J. Llewelyn Prichard, The Comical Adventures of Twm Shon Catty Commonly known as the Welsh Robin Hood

“The myth that the island of Britain was the God-given property of Welsh-speaking peoples stolen by the Saxons meant that the Welsh were reluctant to give up their claim on Britain by rejecting Britishness.”
― Simon Brooks, Why Wales Never Was: The Failure of Welsh Nationalism

“This [Welsh] language seems to be more particularly adapted for poetry; which, however extraordinary it may seem to some, on account of the multiplicity of gutturals and consonants with which it abounds, has the softness and harmony of the Italian, with the majesty and expression of the Greek.”
― David Lloyd Owen, A Wilder Wales: Traveller's Tales 1610-1831

“Swords and Spears of Light appear in the Irish and Welsh belief systems. Many of these Gods and Goddesses belonged to a family called the “Tuatha De Danaan.” Their name means “Family of the Goddess Danu.” They arrived in Ireland in ships that floated in the air. Ogma, known as the “Splendor of the Sun,” brought the Sword of Light from Findrias. Findrias is the cloud-fair city that is in the east of the Tuatha De Danaan world.”
― Laurence Galian

“Lively is the steed, easy the path,
Bare the darkness, joyless the road.
I go after those that have gone."
From The Prophecy of Myrddin and Gwenddydd, His Sister”
― Peter Goodrich, The Romance of Merlin: An Anthology

“Dyn a helpo Elin,' meddwn, 'wyt ti'n meddwl fod hogan mor ffol a dangos bod hi'n hidio dim bod 'i chariad hi'n fflyrtio hefo rhywun arall? Dim peryg. Does gin ddynion ddim digon o sens i guddio'u heiddigedd, ac yn aml iawn pan fydd merch yn chwerthin mwya calonnog, dyna'r amsar y bydd 'i chalon hi agosa i dorri.’

‘Heaven help Elin,' I said, 'do you think a girl is so foolish as to show she cares that her cariad is flirting with someone else? No danger. It’s men that don't have enough sense to hide their jealousy, and it’s when a girl laughs loudest, that’s when her heart is about to break.”
― Winnie Parry