If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized.

The aim of the liar is simply to charm, to delight, to give pleasure. He is the very basis of civilized society.

If one plays good music, people don't listen and if one plays bad music people don't talk.

With an evening coat and a white tie, anybody, even a stockbroker, can gain a reputation for being civilized

To get into the best society nowadays, one has either to feed people, amuse people, or shock people.

We Irish are too poetical to be poets; we are a nation of brilliant failures, but we are the greatest talkers since the Greeks.