Quiz on Irish Authors: Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and more and where to see their statues

Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels.

Bust in the Long Room, Trinity College Library, Dublin, Eire. Open to the public.

Authors of Famous Quotations

Can you recall a book or quotation by any of these authors? 

Authors, alphabetically:

Samuel Beckett

a Brendan Behan

b Maeve Binchey

c Bernard Shaw

d James Joyce

e Jonathan Swift

f Oscar Wilde

g William B Yeats

h Anna May Mangan

Can you name the author of these works?

Angela's Ashes

Borstal Boy

Gulliver's Travels

The Importance of Being Ernest

Me and mine

Ulysses

Can you identify the author of any of these quotations? (Punctuation added and grammar changed by Angela Lansbury and grammarly.com)

1 A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

2 'Anyone could write a book.' (Taxi driver.) Anyone could, but they don't. (Author.)

3 Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.

4 I have nothing to declare, but my genius.

5 I wish I had said that.

6 Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.

7 You will, Oscar, you will.

8 I have nothing to declare except my genius.

9 We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

10 Everyone desires to live long, but no-one would be old.

11 No man is rich enough to buy back his past.

12 Be yourself. Everybody else is already taken.

13 Don't waste today worrying because tomorrow will be even worse.

14 I am a drinker with writing problems.

15  Why should we take advice on sex from the Pope? If he knows anything about it, he shouldn't.

16 Ever tried. Ever failed. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

17 There are no strangers here. Only friends you haven't yet met.

18 Youth is wasted on the young.

Quotations & Their Authors

1 A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

Bernard Shaw

2 Tread softly, for you tread on my dreams

William Butler Yeats

3 We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

Oscar Wilde.

4 I have nothing to declare but my genius.

Oscar Wilde

5 Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.

Oscar Wilde

6 Anyone could write a book. Anyone could, but they don't. 

Maeve Binchey.

7 Everyone desires to live long, but no-one would be old. 

Jonathan Swift 

8 No man is rich enough to buy back his past.

Oscar Wilde

9  Be yourself. Everybody else is already taken.

Oscar Wilde

10 Don't waste today worrying because tomorrow will be even worse.

Anna May Mangan, author of memoir Me and Mine.

11 I am a drinker with writing problems.

Brendan Behan

12  I don't know what it means and I don't care because it's Shakespeare and it's like having jewels in my mouth when I say the words.

Frank Mc Court, author of Angela's Ashes

13 Why should we take advice on sex from the Pope? If he knows anything about it, he shouldn't.

George Bernard Shaw

14 Ever tried. Ever failed. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

Samuel Beckett

15 There are no strangers here. Only friends you haven't yet met.

William Butler Yeats

16 Youth is wasted on the young.

George Bernard Shaw

Useful Websites

quotemaster.org

https://www.wikihow.com/Speak-With-an-Irish-Accent

https://www.tcd.ie/library/exhibitions/directors-choice/swift/

https://www.irelandbeforeyoudie.com/9-inspirational-quotes-from-irelands-literary-greats/

https://www.irelandbeforeyoudie.com/irish-surnames-top-100-last-names-family-names-ranked/

https://www.azquotes.com/author/16044-William_Butler_Yeats

Places to see and visit

N Ireland

Statue of St Patrick

Ireland

Plaque on Shaw's birthplace in Dublin

Busts in library of Trinity College, Dublin

Statues of Brendan Behan, Oscar Wilde, and others

England

Statue of Oscar Wilde in London near Trafalgar Square

House of Shaw at Ayot St Lawrence

USA

Statue of Edmund Burke in Washington D.C.

See Oscar Wilde Statues and Quote his Sayings

One of my favourite statues in London is the one of Oscar Wilde.



Tomb of Oscar Wilde. Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France.

Oscar Wilde tomb, on the left of the photo, has glass arround it for the tributes from fans.

His last words were,
'Either I go, or the curtains go.'

He said to his friend, the painter, Whistler, 'I wish I had said that.'
Whistler replied, 'You will, Oscar, You will.'

On arriving in the USA, asked if he had anything to declare, Wilde replied, 'I have nothing to declare except my genius.'

His other great words were:
I can withstand anything except temptation.

The good end happily. the bad end unhappily. That is what fiction means.

Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.

No good deed goes unpunished.

I always travel with my diar. It is good to have somethin sensational to read on the train.


I love to quote Oscar Wilde at writing conferences and in my speeches at Toastmasters International Meetings.

Author Angela Lansbury
Online Toastmasters International Meetings
If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,
Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=braddell%20heights%20advanced%20toastmasters
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, Toastmasters Club, London.
Tiarel.toastmasters club, Singapore.

Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations
lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product

See also
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/05/statues-and-saying-great-authors.html
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Vilnius Talking statues - The Mermaid, Queen, Frank Zappa, poet, doctor, and more. But where's the Vilna Gaon or Vilna genius?

Flag of Lithuania. From Wikipedia.

Lithuania's prominent town of Vilnius has produced a great idea, a map and a trail of talking statues from all periods of history, taking you around the city. So you don't walk aimlessly but have a destination, a sense of achievement, learn along the route. A city gets you the visitor (or resident) to pass landmarks, historic quarters and as you go the shops and restaurants or open spaces. Well done, Vilna tourist board.

The Statues
But who are the statues of other famous citizens of Vilnius? Frank Zappa; a Jewish doctor; The Mermaid; Barbara, Duchess and Queen of Poland; Adam Mickiewicz national poet of Lithuania and Poland, and more.
It's something for you to do, even with the map, which you can start any time of day.

The Vilna Genius
When I was researching for a novel featuring one of my ancestors from Ukraine, and trying to include several countries and cities in Europe and worldwide to interest the widest possible audience for my book, I came across the Vilna Gaon or genius. (I am not saying that the map of talking statues is a stroke of genius, I am just saying it is excellent.)

The Vilna Gaon was the intellectual, rival, and enemy, of the illiterate Hasids who were singing and dancing in the streets and forests in their warm coats in winter and big hats. The Hasids were communing directly with God through nature, instead of sitting sensibly in synagogue listening to the learned Gaon who presided with wise words over funerals.

The saintly Gaon, however, on learning that his rival was dead, forbade his own followers from dancing on the grave. He wisely said that the dead should be respected. Past rivalry should be forgotten. (Forgotten - I am still talking about it centuries later. Forgiven, but not forgotten.)

I think this is a great story. It explains a lot about why groups of people don't get on. If you look at the psychological systems such as Briggs Meyers, it's simply the introvert versus the extravert, the intellectual book reader living in the past and future versus the sensor living in the here and now.

The Gaon lives on a literature. The Hasids live on in their headgear. (For years I was afraid to approach Hasids. When I did, I found that they won't shake hands with a woman, however, they will speak to you and they are a very jolly crowd.)

The Vilna Gaon is the sort of character you can promote in conferences and long, learned magazine articles. The Hasids are a group who can dance in the streets at festivals.

Back to the Gaon. Mention Vilna to anybody who has studied Jewish history for any reason and they will immediately associate Vilna with the Vilna Gaon. I looked to see where is the Vilna Gaon. A character of interest to the American Jewish visitor. Wikipedia comes up with the instant answer.

Attracting Tourists
Anybody connected with the travel trade will remember that when the Americans stopped visiting London the hotels were suddenly in trouble. Why? Because a hundred room hotel with two bedroom suites occupied by the rich and retired, suddenly found that a ten per cent drop in takings was the difference between profit and loss.

Maybe nobody in a group of 20 visitors or a hundred visitors is interested. But the owner of the travel agency had a granny from a European city. Your Jewish owned or staffed travel company can also send dozens of people to a city, or nobody.

If you visit Vilnius, and know about the Vilna Gaon, you will have no trouble finding where he was and then seeing the other statues.

http://www.mmcentras.lt/uploads/files/dir551/dir27/dir1/0_0.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilna_Gaon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilna_Gaon_Jewish_State_Museum

Adam Mickiewicz is the national poet of more than one country (because borders have changed through history). Adam was and is national poet of Lithuania and Poland. Was Adam Mickiewicz also Jewish? If not, was he ever Jewish, or of Jewish descent? It seems he was a staunch Catholic, rumoured to have a Jewish mother so possibly of Jewish origin with Jewish sympathies or connections and definitely a political alliance.

If you are trying to write a historical novel, and work out the sympathies of your real life or imaginary hero, or a minor or famous character of the era, here's a site which summarises the issues neatly.
http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1143

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, researcher, speaker.