Explore Quotes by James Joyce

A certain pride, a certain awe, withheld him from offering to God even one prayer at night, though he knew it was in God's power to take away his life while he slept and hurl his soul hellward ere he could beg for mercy.

The only decent people I ever saw at the racecourse were horses.

Save the trees of Ireland for the future men of Ireland on the fair hills of Eire, O.

All human history moves towards one great goal

Sentimentality is unearned emotion.

He was unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life

In the particular is contained the universal.

I came in at half past eleven. Since then I have been sitting in an easy chair like a fool. I could do nothing. I hear nothing but your voice. I am like a fool hearing you call me 'Dear.' I offended two men today by leaving them coolly. I wanted to hear your voice, not theirs. When I am with you I leave aside my contemptuous, suspicious nature. I wish I felt your head on my shoulder.

No one who has any self-respect stays in Ireland, but flees afar as though from a country that has undergone the visitation of an angered Jove.

And when all was said and done the lies a fellow told about himself couldn't probably hold a proverbial candle to the wholesale whoppers other fellows coined about him.

Winds of May, that dance on the sea,_x000D__x000D_Dancing a ring-around in glee_x000D__x000D_From furrow to furrow, while overhead_x000D__x000D_The foam flies up to be garlanded,_x000D__x000D_In silvery arches spanning the air,_x000D__x000D_Saw you my true love anywhere?_x000D__x000D_Welladay! Welladay!_x000D__x000D_For the winds of May!_x000D__x000D_Love is unhappy when love is away!

There's many a true word spoken in jest.

White pudding and eggs and sausages and cups of tea! How simple and beautiful was life after all!

The State is concentric, but the individual is eccentric.

The sacred pint alone can unbind the tongue.

There is an atmosphere of spiritual effort here. No other city is quite like it. I wake early, often at 5 o'clock, and start writing at once.

There is not past, no future; everything flows in an eternal present.

When the Irishman is found outside of Ireland in another environment, he very often becomes a respected man. The economic and intellectual conditions that prevail in his own country do not permit the development of individuality. No one who has any self-respect stays in Ireland, but flees afar as though from a country that has undergone the visitation of an angered Jove.

Saying that a great genius is mad, while at the same time recognizing his artistic worth, is like saying that he had rheumatism or suffered from diabetes. Madness, in fact, is a medical term that can claim no more notice from the objective critic than he grants the charge of heresy raised by the theologian, or the charge of immorality raised by the police.

Phall if you but will, rise you must: and none so soon either shall the pharce for the nunce come to a setdown secular phoenish.

For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal.