Connemara Quotes

“Theories of flow must consider sinks as well as sources. There are locations - by definition they are not places, though we know too well where they are - that swallow up difference, leaving a desert of toxic sameness, an atmosphere of depleted possibilities of meaning, a dull residue of differences that make no difference. Our civilization produces them; it even needs them. We need them in Connemara - I am no purist in this - but must not allow them to drain away its essences. That should be the principle at the core of arguments around particular cases. And if the web of associations I have spun around these quaint landmarks in Garomna should lap out beyond the vague confines of Connemara to envelop more and more of the world, it might bring with it the suggestion of a way of looking at places as sources of difference; and surely taking note of the particularities of a place is the first step in taking care of it.”
― Tim Robinson, Connemara: A Little Gaelic Kingdom

“Thinking now of the luminous cleanliness and bell-like resonance of Aran’s limestone rock sheets, their parallel fissures pointing one to the edge of clear-cut cliffs, and the solace on a summer’s day of its spring wells that image the perfection of the wildflowers attendant on them, I realize what a difficult terrain is south Connemara: multidirectional from every point, so complex in form it verges on the formless, disputing every step with stony irregularities, leachlike softness of bog or bootlace-catching twiggy heath. Often when visitors ask me what they should see in this region I am at a loss. A curious hole in the ground? The memory of an old song about a drowning? Ultimately I have to tell them that this is a land without shortcuts.”
― Tim Robinson, Connemara: A Little Gaelic Kingdom