Spain: A whale stranded upon the coast of Europe.

It is equality of monotony which makes the strength of the British Isles.

A nation is not conquered which is perpetually to be conquered.

Nationality is the miracle of political independence; race is the principle of physical analogy.

I suffer more from the humiliations inflicted by my country than from those inflicted on her.

I showed my appreciation of my native land in the usual Irish way: by getting out of it as soon as I possibly could.

Poor nations are hungry, and rich nations are proud; and pride and hunger will ever be at variance.

Nations! What are nations? Tartars! and Huns! and Chinamen! Like insects they swarm. The historian strives in vain to make them memorable. It is for want of a man that there are so many men. It is individuals that populate the world.

Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul.

God how I hate new countries: They are older than the old, more sophisticated, much more conceited, only young in a certain puerile vanity more like senility than anything.