John Boyle O'Reilly Quotes (1844-1890)

“For peace do not hope; to be just you must break it. Still work for the minute and not for the year.”

“But the gods are dead— Ay, Zeus is dead, and all the gods but Doubt, And doubt is brother devil to Despair!”

“The red rose whispers of passion, And the white rose breathes of love; O, the red rose is a falcon, And the white rose is a dove.”

“The red rose whispers of passion, And the white rose breathes of love; O, the red rose is a falcon, And the white rose is a dove.”

“The world is large when its weary leagues two loving hearts divide; But the world is small when your enemy is loose on the other side.”

“The world is large, when its weary leagues two loving hearts divide; But the world is small, when your enemy is loose on the other side.”

“For all time to come, the freedom and purity of the press are the test of national virtue and independence. No writer for the press, however humble, is free from the burden of keeping his purpose high and his integrity white.”

“I am weary of planning and toiling In the crowded hives of men; Heart weary of building and spoiling And spoiling and building again; And I long for the dear old river Where I dreamed my youth away; For a dreamer lives forever, And a toiler dies in a day.”

“Here, on this rock, and on this sterile soil, Began the kingdom not of kings, but men: Began the making of the world again. Here centuries sank, and from the hither brink A new world reached and raised an old-world link, When English hands, by wider vision taught, Threw down the feudal bars the Normans brought, And here revived, in spite of sword and stake, Their ancient freedom of the Wapentake! Here struck the seed—the Pilgrims' roofless town, Where equal rights and equal bonds were set, Where all the people equal-franchised met; Where doom was writ of privilege and crown; Where human breath blew all the idols down; Where crests were nought, where vulture flags were furled, And common men began to own the world.”

“One righteous word for Law—the common will; One living truth of Faith—God regnant still; One primal test of Freedom—all combined; One sacred Revolution—change of mind; One trust unfailing for the night and need— The tyrant-flower shall cast the freedom-seed. So held they firm, the Fathers aye to be, From Home to Holland, Holland to the sea— Pilgrims for manhood, in their little ship, Hope in each heart and prayer on every lip. They could not live by king-made codes and creeds; They chose the path where every footstep bleeds. Protesting, not rebelling; scorned and banned; Through pains and prisons harried from the land; Through double exile,—till at last they stand Apart from all,—unique, unworldly, true, Selected grain to sow the earth anew; A winnowed part—a saving remnant they; Dreamers who work—adventurers who pray!”