Dublin was hardly worried by the war; her old preoccupations were still preoccupations. The intelligentsia continued their parties; their mutual malice was as effervescent as ever.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I went further and further back through the centuries to get a sense of perspective but now at least I understand why Irish history evokes such strong passions and emotions.
They believed that Britain was in Ireland defending their own interests, therefore the Irish had the right to use violence to put them out. My argument was that that type of thinking was out of date.
The Ireland I now inhabit is one that these Irish contemporaries have helped to imagine.
A few decades ago, the Irish decided they were tired of being always near the bottom of Europe's economic indicators. So they envisioned a better future for their country, and they put their people on the right road to get there.
We are bound to lose Ireland in consequence of years of cruelty, stupidity and misgovernment and I would rather lose her as a friend than as a foe.
Love is never defeated, and I could add, the history of Ireland proves it.
The Irish fought the Italians until they started marrying them. And then they both fought the Jews until they started marrying them.
My Dublin wasn't the Dublin of sing-songs, traditional music, sense of history and place and community.
I would never accuse the Irish people of being in any way stupid.
Dublin dwindles so beautifully; there is no harsh separation between it and the country. It fades away, whereas London seems to devour the country; an army of buildings come and take away a beautiful park, and you never seem to get quite out of sight of a row of houses.