Brian Friel Quotes & Sayings

I know now why I stopped writing short stories. It was at the point when I recognised how difficult they were. — Brian Friel

Confusion is not an ignoble condition — Brian Friel

I was a member of the Nationalist Party for several years. I don't remember how long. Those were very dreary days, because the Nationalist Party ... it's hard to describe what it was. I suppose it held on to some kind of little faith, you know? It wasn't even sure what the faith was, and it was a very despised enterprise by everybody. — 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

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

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

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

To remember everything is a form of madness. — Brian Friel

I had grandparents who were native Irish speakers, and also, two of the four grandparents were illiterate. — Brian Friel

The Troubles are a pigmentation in our lives here, a constant irritation that detracts from real life. But life has to do with something else as well, and it's the other things which are the more permanent and real. — Brian Friel

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

People with a culture of poverty suffer much less from repression than we of the middle class suffer and indeed, if I may make the suggestion with due qualification, they often have a hell of a lot more fun than we have. — Brian Friel