Madam President, speaking here in Dublin Castle it is impossible to ignore the weight of history, as it was yesterday when you and I laid wreaths at the Garden of Remembrance.

We lost the American colonies because we lacked the statesmanship to know the right time and the manner of yielding what is impossible to keep.

The upward course of a nation's history is due in the long run to the soundness of heart of its average men and women.

It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained.

I have behind me not only the splendid traditions and the annals of more than a thousand years but the living strength and majesty of the Commonwealth and Empire; of societies old and new; of lands and races different in history and origins but all, by God's Will, united in spirit and in aim.

The upward course of a nation's history is due in the long run to the soundness of heart of its average men and women.