Translations Brian Friel Quotes

To remember everything is a form of madness.

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

...that it is not the literal past, the 'facts' of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language.

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.

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.

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?

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

I went on to propose that our own culture and the classical tongues made a happier conjugation [...] English, I suggested, couldn't really express us.

Come on man, speak in English. For the benefit of the colonist? He's a decent man. Aren't they all at some level?

A-that it is not the literal past, the 'facts ' of history, that shape us, but images of that past embodied in language. B-we must never cease renewing those images; because once we do, we fossilise.

He then explained that he does not speak Irish. Latin? I asked. None. Greek? Not a syllable. He speaks - on his own admission - only English; and to his credit he seemed suitably verecund - James? Verecundus - humble.