# Quote — Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization

> Never interested in impressive edifices, Irish monks preferred to spend their time in study, prayer, farming—and, of course, copying. ...a little hut for each monk... a refectory and kitchen; a scriptorium and library; a smithy, a kiln, a mill, and a couple of barns; a modest church—and they were in business.

- Author: [Thomas Cahill](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-cahill.md)
- Book: [How the Irish Saved Civilization](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-cahill/how-the-irish-saved-civilization.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Cahill#How_the_Irish_Saved_Civilization_(1995)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-cahill/how-the-irish-saved-civilization/never-interested-in-impressive

## More from this book

> Beowulf grappling with the monstors was a type of Christ grappling with Satan.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-cahill/how-the-irish-saved-civilization/beowulf-grappling-with.md)

> For a century and a half—from the middle of the fifth century to the end of the sixth—there had been... no formal communication between Rome and the Christians of Britain, nor had there been any between Rome and Ireland...

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-cahill/how-the-irish-saved-civilization/for-a-century.md)

> This swaggering behavior has confounded historians, prompting them to wonder if Columbanus was a little off his rocker. But I think we may chalk up this attitude to his Irishness.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-cahill/how-the-irish-saved-civilization/this-swaggering-behavior.md)