Brendan Behan

I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer.

— Brendan Behan

A man is already halfway in love with any woman who listens to him.

— Brendan Behan

I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer.

— Brendan Behan

Every man, through fear, mugs his aspirations a dozen times a day.

— Brendan Behan

When I came back to Dublin, I was courtmartialled in my absence and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.

— Brendan Behan

He was born an Englishman and remained one for years.

— Brendan Behan

An author's first duty is to let down his country.

— Brendan Behan

There's no bad publicity except an obituary.

— Brendan Behan

The sun was in mind to come out but having a look at the weather it was in lost heart and went back again.

— Brendan Behan

It's not that the Irish are cynical. It's rather that they have a wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody.

— Brendan Behan

Mother, they would praise my balls if I hung them high enough.

— Brendan Behan

I respect kindness in human beings first of all, and kindness to animals. I don't respect the law; I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer.

— Brendan Behan

I only drink on two occasions — When I am thirsty and when I'm not.

— Brendan Behan

As regards drink, I can only say that in Dublin during the Depression when I was growing up, drunkenness was not regarded as a social disgrace. To get enough to eat was regarded as an achievement. To get drunk was a victory.

— Brendan Behan

The Bible was a consolation to a fellow alone in the old cell. The lovely thin paper with a bit of matress stuffing in it, if you could get a match, was as good a smoke as I ever tasted.

— Brendan Behan

The prospect of success in achieving our most cherished dream is not without its terrors. Who is more deprived and alone than the man who has achieved his dream?

— Brendan Behan

Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand immediate marriage to action.

— Brendan Behan