"happy wars and sad love songs"

Growing up, my father enjoyed telling me that my family was from a place of "happy wars and sad love songs," doing some quick research now shows me that my dad failed to cite Richard Brinsley Sheridan as the author of his clever observation. Nonetheless, this often-repeated quote seems to have stuck around in my memory over the years and I was certainly reminded of it when reviewing 'A Brief History of Ireland' and trying to develop a sense of the world that Yeats inhabited.
Trying to approach Irish history from the Prehistoric Era through the modern day can be, at times, overwhelming and a brief history can often feel like a long list of invasions, occupations, and injustices. Ireland reveals itself to be a sort of capital for struggle and human tenacity. Discussed in the text and evident in Yeats' early poems, is a strong sense of nationalism and collective identity. It is interesting to consider some of the pervasive 'Irish-ness' in Yeats' "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" or "Wandering Angus" as a result of the author's encounters with John O'Leary. I am also intruiged by what is referred to as Yeat's favorite Gaelic axiom, "strife is better than loneliness." Similar to my father's favorite Sheridan quotable, the phrase speaks to the Irish urge toward progress; the 'happy war' or the 'struggle' is always preferable to the oppressive limbo that is indefinite occupation.