Traits and Stories (1844 Edn.), “General Introduction”: ‘[The author] rejoices in the demand for the present edition puts it in his power to aid in removing many absurd prejudices which have existed from time immemorial against his countrymen ... congeries of brogue and blunder. That the Irish either were or are a people remarkable for making bulls or blunders, is an imputation utterly unfounded, and in every sense untrue. The source of this error on the part of our neighbours is, however, readily traced. The language of our people has been for centuries, and is up to the present day, in a transition stage. The English tongue is gradually superseding the Irish. In my own native place, for instance, there is not by any means so much Irish spoken now, as there was about twenty or five-and-twenty years ago. This fact, then, will easily account for the ridicule which is, and I fear ever will be, unjustly heaped upon those who are found to use a language which they do not properly understand. [... &c.]’ (Traits and Stories, 1843 Edn.; rep. Colin Smythe Ltd. 1990, p.i.).

Traits and Stories (1830-33 Edn.): ‘My native place is a spot rife with old legends, tales, traditions, customs, and superstitions; so that in my early youth, even beyond the walls of my own humble roof, they met me in every direction. It was at home, however, and from my father’s lips in particular, that they were perpetually sounding in my ears ... What rendered this besides of such peculiar advantage to me in after life, as a literary man, was that I heard them as often in the Irish language as in the English, if not oftener, a circumstance which enabled me in my writings to transfer the genius, the idiomatic peculiarity and conversational spirit of the one language into the other, precisely as the people themselves do in their dialogue, whenever the heart or imagination happens to be moved by the darker or the better passions.’ (pp.5, 6.)

Opportunity knocks: ‘There never was any man of letters who had an opportunity of knowing and describing the manners of the Irish people so thoroughly as I’ ( Autobiography, ed., D. J. O’Donoghue; quoted in John Eglinton, ‘Irish Books’, Anglo-Irish Essays, 1917, p.82.) ‘In conclusion, I have endeavoured, with what success has been already determined by the voice of my own country, to give a panorama of Irish life among the people ... and in doing this, I can say with solemn truth that I painted them honestly and without reference to the existence of any particular creed or party.’ (Traits and Stories, 1843 Edn.; see “Irish Classics”, infra.)

British mercy: ‘For nearly a century, we were completely at the mercy of our British neighbours, who probably amused themselves at our expense with the greater licence, and a more assured sense of impunity, inasmuch as they knew that we were utterly destitute of a national literature.’ (Preface, Autobiography; q.p.; cited by Tess Hurson [MA Teaching Material], UUC 1997.)

Literary famine: ‘During some of the years of the Irish famine, such were the unhappy circumstances of the country, that she was exporting provisions of every description in the most prodigal abundance, which the generosity of England was sending back again for our support. So was it with literature. Our men and women of genius uniformly carried their talents to the English market, whilst we laboured at home under all the dark privations of a literary famine.’ ( Traits and Stories, William Tegg edn. [n.d.]), Pref., Vol. 1, p.v.

Proud names: ‘The only names which Ireland can point to with pride are Griffin’s, Banim’s, and - do not accuse me of vanity when I say it - my own. Banim and Griffin are gone, and I will soon follow them - ultimus Romanorum, and after that will a lull, an obscurity of perhaps half a century, when a new condition of civil society and a new phase of manners and habits among the people - for this is a transition state - may introduce new fields and new tastes for other writers, for in this manner the cycles of literature and taste appear, hold their day, displace each other, and make room for others.’ (William Carleton, Letter to Dr. T. C. S. Corry, 1863, quoted in O’Donoghue’s Life of Carleton 1896, p. 305; see Barry Sloan, The Pioneers of Anglo-Irish Fiction, 1800-1850, Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe 1986, p. 237).