Famous QUOTES from Ireland’s county DONEGAL

“Oh Donegal, the pride of all, My heart still turns to thee. My cottage home where I did roam When I was young and free…” — Traditional.
“The sea has been in my heart since I was a little girl. I grew up in Gaoth Dobhair, an Irish-speaking parish on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal, in the northwest corner of Ireland. The area is known for its rugged cliffs and windswept beaches, and the sea’s moods and spirit still find their way into my music.’ – Enya
God bless the gray mountains of dark Donegal / God bless royal Aileach, the pride of them all; / For she sits evermore like a queen on her throne, / And smiles on the valleys of Green Innishowen – Charles Gavan Duffy (1826-1909)
“Donegal is a place devoid of nonsense.” — From a review of Garrett Carr’s (b. 1975) novel The Boy from the Sea.
And then there is Tir Chonaill or Donegal, kin in the clipped speech of its inhabitants and in its configuration to the people and braes of the Scottish Highlands. Its great-hearted valleys and leonine headlands are most typical of the western Irish coast. Donegal is a county that is truly rewarding. – Bryan MacMahon 1909-1998), Here’s Ireland (1971).
Adieu to Ballyshannon where I was bred and born; /Go where I may, I’U think of you, as sure as night and morn, /The kindly spot, the friendly town, where everyone is known, /And not a face in all the place but partly seems my own/ There’s not a house or window, there’s not a field or hill,But east or west, in foreign lands, I’ll recollect them still /I leave my warm heart with you, though my back I’m forced to turn/ So adieu to Ballyshannon and the winding banks of Erne! William Allingham,
And a long sort of sigh seemed to rise from us all / As the waves hid the last bit of ould Donegal. / Och! it’s well to be you to be takin’ yer tay / Where they’re cutting the corn down in Creeslough the day. Percy French (1854-1902).
“We were a hardy people, raised facing the Atlantic. Our ambitions were to pay the rent and keep the fire lit.” — Patrick McGill.
“Weird things happen in Donegal.” – Lisa McGee. How to Get to Heaven from Belfast
The most elevated of its mountains is Errigal, which rises 2,463 feet above the level of the sea. It abounds in lakes, generally small, although some of them are very extensive. Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle are both connected with it, the former exclusively; and its southern border is washed by the waters of Lough Erne. Its three principal rivers bear the same names-the Swilly, the Foyle, and the Erne; but it abounds with water, and from its mountainous character, huge “falls” are encountered in astonishing numbers – Samuel Carter Hall and Anna Maria Hall, Ireland, its scenery and character (1841-43)
Dusk had fallen. North-west on the mainland, beside Inch island, dqylight ebbed from the loughside meadows. In the east the chimneysmoke of Derry hung above the houses. West across Lough Swilly house-lights came up in Rathmelton. In the south the Foyle river was a twist of silver paper. In the full-blooded north, peak beyond peak beyond peak the mountains stretched into farthest lnishowen. – Bryan MacMahon 1909-1998), Here’s Ireland (1971).
“Donegal is a mysterious county. A guardian of the Irish language and of ritual, it’s a place often fiercely resistant to social change. Donegal culture is one of beauty and loss, of language and silence, of isolation and community.” — Annemarie Ní Churreái,
“You go up a mountain and down the other side… to find out who you are.” — Madge Herron (Donegal-born poet).
“In County Donegal, Ireland’s myths, magic, and music intertwine, the landscape of tiny fields, dunes, rocks, and a dense array of homes. driven into this beautiful and impossible place.” — Timothy O’Grady (b. 1951),
“For there’s no place on earth just like / The homes of Donegal.” —The Homes of Donegal
“My heart still turns to thee / My cottage home where I did roam / When I was young and free.” —Home to Donegal
I am now in a huge black boat rowing across angry lake waters. The boat carries 150 pilgrims. Before us on a mid-lake island I see, as by miracle, a floating basilica. The lake is Lough Derg in County Donegal. In a cave-Caverna . Purgatorii-in this island, tradition says that St Patrick did penance over 1,500 years ago. Lough Derg means Red Lake: a monster killed by St Patrick is believed to have reddened the water with its blood. Here also tradi. tion says that God granted the saint a vision of Purgatory – Bryan MacMahon 1909-1998), Here’s Ireland (1971).
Here is a wild and unlettered and un-French-lettered country, too far from Andera, a village you can’t be too far from. Here are gannets and seals and puffins flying and puffing and playing a quarter of a mile outside my window where there are great rocks petrified like the old Fates and destinies of Ireland, and smooth white pebbles under and around them like the souls of the dead Irish. There’s a huge echo. You shout and the dead Irish answer from behind the hill. I’ve forced them into confessing that they’re sad, grey, lost, forgotten, dead and damned forever. – Dylan Thomas, Letter to Bert Trick, c.July 1935
A country that might all be very beautiful, but is not so, is bare, gnarled, craggy, and speaks to you of sloth and insolvency. ‘When every place was no place, and Dublin was a shaking bog;’ Irish phrase for the beginning of time. – Thomas Carlyle, Rnniniscences of My Irish Journey in 1849, 1882
Oh! Arranmore, lov’d Arranmore, How oft I dream of thee,/ And of those days when, by thy shore, I wandered young and free/ Full many a path I’ve tried, since then, Through pleasure’s flowery maze/But ne’er could find the bliss again I felt in those sweet days. – Thomas Moore, ‘Oh! Arranmorce Lov’d Arranmore’, Irish Melodies, 1807-35
“But my heart will lead me back home to my Donegal.” — Home to Donegal
“Whatever fortune comes my way, whatever may befall / Sure I know I’ll make my final destination Donegal.” — Johnny McCauley, Destination Donegal
“No grander sight the eye can see, Than Donegal, sae wild an’ free.” — Sarah Leech
“The purple tops of Errigal, An the craigs of Cnoc an Toige; Old Muckish Grand in glittering sand, Looked proudly over all.” — Mick McGarvey
“We left Donegal with a soft breeze a-lee, With bees in the broom and the sun on the heather.” — Clinton Scollard
“My heart still turns to thee… On the hills of Donegal.” — Mick McGarvey
“Up here, it’s different.” — Tourism slogan 1982.

Famous quotes from Ireland’s counties

Antrim – Armagh – Carlow – Cavan – Clare – Cork – Derry – Donegal – Down – Dublin – Fermanagh – Galway – Kerry – Kildare – Kilkenny – Laois – Leitrim – Limerick – Longford – Louth – Mayo – Meath – Monaghan – Offaly – Roscommon – Sligo – Tipperary – Tyrone – Waterford – Westmeath – Wexford – Wicklow

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County Donegal:

Ireland’s county Donegal is a land of wild coastlines and Gaelic heritage, with Slieve League’s towering sea cliffs offering some of Europe’s highest coastal views. Glenveagh National Park features a historic castle and sprawling gardens amidst rugged mountains. The beaches of Bundoran and the traditional tweed workshops of Ardara make Donegal an engaging destination for nature and cultural enthusiasts. The Grianan of Aileach stone fort adds ancient intrigue and splendid views. Donegal is Ireland’s fourth largest county by size (4,830 square km) and 13th largest by population (167,084). Population peaked at 296,448 in 1841 and reached its lowest point, 108,344 in 1971. In terms of hospitality, Donegal is also Ireland’s 13th most visited tourist county with around 199,000 international visitors per year.

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