Éamon de Valera quotes

All history is man's efforts to realise ideals. (Éamon de Valera)
Of course I wrote most of the Constitution myself. I remember hesitating for a long time over the US presidential system. But it wouldn't have done - we were too trained in English democracy to sit down under a dictatorship which is what the American system really is. View quote
Éamon de Valera
It is my considered opinion that in the fullness of time history will record the greatness of Michael Collins and it will be recorded at my expense. View quote
Éamon de Valera
For Irishmen, there is no football game to match rugby and if all our young men played rugby not only would we beat England and Wales but France and the whole lot of them put together. View quote
Éamon de Valera
Partition is after all only an old fortress of crumbled masonry - held together with the plaster of fiction. View quote
Éamon de Valera
We cannot afford idleness, waste or inefficiency. View quote
Éamon de Valera
The part which American friendship played in helping us to win the freedom we enjoy in this part of Ireland has been gratefully recognized and acknowledged by our people. View quote
Éamon de Valera
Here, in Cork district, you have in combination all the dangers which war can inflict. View quote
Éamon de Valera
No matter what the future may hold for the Irish nation, the seven years - 1916 to 1923 - must ever remain a period of absorbing interest. Not for over two hundred years has there been such a period of intense and sustained effort to regain the national sovereignty and independence. Over the greater part of the period it was the effort of, one might say, the entire nation. An overwhelming majority of the people of this island combined voluntarily during those years in pursuit of a common purpose. View quote
Éamon de Valera
Ministers not responsible to parliament - that would never do. Besides, I wanted to prepare a nice quiet job without too much work for my old age. Still, I admit, I was tempted. Look at the way de Gaulle rules France ... absolute rule ... very efficient. View quote
Éamon de Valera
England pretends it is not by the naked sword, but by the good will of the people of the country that she is here. We will draw the naked sword to make her bare her own naked sword. (Éamon de Valera)
I am against this Treaty not because I am a man of war but because I am a man of peace. I am against this Treaty because it will not end the centuries of conflict between the two nations of Great Britain and Ireland. View quote
Éamon de Valera
A Dhomhnall, I have to tell you, you are abolished. View quote
Éamon de Valera
Nature never intended me to be a partisan leader ... Every instinct of mine would indicate that I was meant to be a dyed-in-the-wool Tory, or even a bishop, rather than the leader of a revolution. View quote
Éamon de Valera
It is indeed hard for the strong to be just to the weak, but acting justly always has its rewards. View quote
Éamon de Valera
When we have done our best, we can, as a united people, take whatever may befall with calm courage and confidence that this old nation will survive and if death should come to many of us, death is not the end. View quote
Éamon de Valera
If there is to be any hope of prosperity for this country it is by reversing that policy which made us simply the kitchen garden for supplying the British with cheap food. View quote
Éamon de Valera
If war comes upon us, it will come as a thief in the night. View quote
Éamon de Valera
Unemployment is due to the large import of goods from Britain and other countries. The Government haven't used the powers which they have for the benefit of the country. View quote
Éamon de Valera
I shall strive not to be guilty of adding any fuel to the flames of hatred and passion which, if continued to be fed, promise to burn up whatever is left by the war of decent human feeling in Europe. View quote
Éamon de Valera
God has been pleased to save us during the years of war that have already passed. We pray that He may be pleased to save us to the end. But we must do our part. (Éamon de Valera)
We are fully aware that, in a world at war, each set of belligerents is over ready to regard those who are not with them as against them; but the course we have followed is a just course. View quote
Éamon de Valera
By keeping the annuities, we could build up a national industry every years as big as the Shannon Scheme. View quote
Éamon de Valera
We hope that the plain people - the labourers and small farmers - will take this opportunity of coming together and working out the National programme. View quote
Éamon de Valera
The economic and social problems would tend to become, like the military situation, more and more difficult as time went on and we became more and more isolated. View quote
Éamon de Valera