Irish Sayings, Proverbs, Blessings, and Irish Toasts for St. Patrick’s Day
When St. Patrick’s Day comes every year, we all become Irish for just one day, no matter what our ethnicity the rest of the year. So it is important to study up on our Irish sayings, so that we can toast our friends in a proper Irish manner, with a glass full of Guiness in our favorite bar or pub.
This list is full of Irish quotes, and lots of Irish toasts for use on St. Patrick’s Day, or any day of the year at Irish cultural fairs. So raise a glass this St. Patrick’s Day, and I will be raising a glass too.
Slainte!
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Irish Toasts for St. Patrick’s Day
The Big Little Book of Irish Wit & Wisdom
Irish Quotes
St. Patrick’s Day, shamrocks, and four leaf clovers
Anyone acquainted with Ireland knows that the morning of St. Patrick’s Day consists of the night of the seventeenth of March flavored strongly with the morning of the eighteenth. ~Author Unknown
For each petal on the shamrock
This brings a wish your way –
Good health, good luck, and happiness
For today and every day.
~Author Unknown
May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.
~Irish Blessing
Oh, Paddy, dear, an’ did ye hear the news that’s goin’ round?
The shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish ground!
No more St. Patrick’s Day we’ll keep, his colour can’t be seen,
For there’s a cruel law agin’ the Wearin’ o’ the green.
~Author Unknown
When law can stop the blades of grass from growin’ as they grow,
An’ when the leaves in summer time their color dare not show,
Then I will change the color, too, I wear in my caubeen;
But till that day, plaise God, I’ll stick to the Wearin’ o’ the Green.
~Author Unknown
May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
~Irish Blessing
So, success attend St. Patrick’s fist,
For he’s a saint so clever;
Oh! he gave the snakes and toads a twist,
And bothered them forever!
~Henry Bennett
Saint Patrick was a gentleman, who through strategy and stealth
Drove all the snakes from Ireland, here’s a drink to his health!
But not too many drinks, lest we lose ourselves and then
Forget the good Saint Patrick, and see them snakes again!
~Author Unknown
Never iron a four-leaf clover, because you don’t want to press your luck. ~Author Unknown
Oh, the music in the air!
An’ the joy that’s ivrywhere –
Shure, the whole blue vault of heaven is wan grand triumphal arch,
An’ the earth below is gay
Wid its tender green th’-day,
Fur the whole world is Irish on the Seventeenth o’ March!
~Thomas Augustin Daly
When Irish eyes are smiling,
‘Tis like a morn in spring.
With a lilt of Irish laughter
You can hear the angels sing.
~Author Unknown
He was a terror to any snake that came in his path, whether it was the cold, slimy reptile sliding along the ground or the more dangerous snake that oppresses men through false teachings. And he drove the snakes out of the minds of men, snakes of superstition and brutality and cruelty. ~Arthur Brisbane
Oh, while a man may dream awake,
On gentle Irish ground,
‘Tis Paradise without the snake –
That’s easy to be found.
~Frederick Langbridge
For ’tis green, green, green, where the ruined towers are gray,
And it’s green, green, green, all the happy night and day;
Green of leaf and green of sod, green of ivy on the wall,
And the blessed Irish shamrock with the fairest green of all.
~Mary Elizabeth Blake
O, the red rose may be fair,
And the lily statelier;
But my shamrock, one in three
Takes the very heart of me!
~Katherine Tynan
There’s a dear little plant that grows in our isle,
‘Twas St Patrick himself, sure, that set it;
And the sun on his labor with pleasure did smile,
And with dew from his eye often wet it.
It thrives through the bog, through the brake, and the mireland;
And he called it the dear little shamrock of Ireland…
~Andrew Cherry
And about her courts were seen
Liveried angels robed in green,
Wearing, by St Patrick’s bounty,
Emeralds big as half the county.
~Walter Savage Landor
The shamrock on an older shore
Sprang from a rich and sacred soil
Where saint and hero lived of yore,
And where their sons in sorrow toil.
~Maurice Francis Egen
A best friend is like a four leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have. ~Author Unknown
What color should be seen
Where our fathers’ homes have been
But their own immortal Green?
~Author Unknown
Oh! St. Patrick was a gentleman
Who came of decent people;
He built a church in Dublin town,
And on it put a steeple.
~Henry Bennett
Wandered from the Antrim hills,
Wandered from the Killalas rills,
Patrick heard upon the breeze
Voices from the Irish seas.
~Author Unknown
If you hold a four-leaf shamrock in your left hand at dawn on St. Patrick’s Day you get what you want very much but haven’t wished for. ~Patricia Lynch
With the frost he kindled fire;
Drove the snakes from brake and brier,
Hurling out the writhing brood
With the lightning of his rood.
~Edwin Markham
When after the Winter alarmin’,
The Spring steps in so charmin’,
So fresh and arch
In the middle of March,
Wid her hand St. Patrick’s arm on…
~Alfred Percival Graves
The list of Irish saints is past counting; but in it all no other figure is so human, friendly, and lovable as St. Patrick – who was an Irishman only by adoption. ~Stephen Gwynn
Many an opportunity is lost because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers. ~Author Unknown
Irish Sayings and Proverbs
Day to day Irish culture in sayings
You can’t kiss an Irish girl unexpectedly. You can only kiss her sooner than she thought you would.
A handful of skill is better than a bagful of gold
A cabin with plenty of food is better than a hungry castle
It is often that a person’s mouth broke his nose.
It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead the rest of your life.
Do not take the thatch from your own roof to buy slates for another man’s house.
A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best,
but his mother the longest.
Firelight will not let you read fine stories, but it’s warm, and you won’t see the dust on the floor.
A goose never voted for an early Christmas.
Dance as if no one’s watching, sing as if no one’s listening, and live everyday as if it were your last.
While a person is out, his food goes cold
(nothing does well, if neglected).
Good as drink is, it ends in thirst.
A little fire that warms is better than a big fire that burns.
There is no tax on talk
Enough and no waste is as good as a feast.
The magic of Christmas lingers on
Though childhood days have passed
Upon the common round of life
A Holy Spell is cast
It is easy to halve the potato where there is love.
There’s no need to fear the wind if your haystacks are tied down.
Wisdom is the comb given to a man after he has lost his hair.
If you give the loan of your britches, don’t cut off the buttons.
The borrowed horse has hard hoofs.
May the enemies of Ireland never eat bread nor drink whisky, but be tormented with itching without benefit of scratching.
Three best to have in plenty – sunshine, wisdom and generosity.
Everyone lays a burden on the willing horse.
God is good, but never dance in a small boat.
Never scald your lips with another man’s porridge.
It’s why women marry – the creatures, God bless them, are too shy to say no.
Don’t be breaking your shin on a stool that’s not in your way.
A whistling woman and a crowing hen
will bring no luck to the house they are in.
Wide is the door of the little cottage.
You can’t kiss an Irish girl unexpectedly. You can only kiss her sooner than she thought you would.
Show the fatted calf, but not the thing that fattened him.
An old broom knows the dirty corners best.
God made time, but man made haste.
Get down on your knees and thank God you’re still on your feet.
Many a sudden change takes place on a spring day.
You’ll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.
Marriages are all happy. It’s having breakfast together that causes all the trouble.
What butter and whiskey won’t cure, there is no cure for.
The old person is a child twice.
For a young man contemplating marriage: That you might have nicer legs than your own under your table before the new spuds are up.
Though wisdom is good in the beginning, it is better at the end.
Men are like bagpipes – no sound comes from them until they are full.
Don’t make little of your dish for it may be an ignorant fellow who judges it.
The man who has luck in the morning has luck in the afternoon.
A man without a blackthorn stick is a man without an expedient.
Irish Toasts
Use them wisely on St. Patrick’s Day
Here’s to a temperance supper,
With water in glasses tall,
And coffee and tea to end with
And me not there at all!
May you die in bed at 95, shot by a jealous wife!
Here’s to eyes in your heads and none in your spuds.
May the roof above us never fall in, and may we friends beneath it never fall out.
Here’s to me, and here’s to you. And here’s to love and laughter. I’ll be true as long as you. And not one moment after.
May the enemies of Ireland never eat bread nor drink whiskey, but be afflicted with itching without the benefit of scratching.
Here’s to you and yours, And to mine and ours, And if mine and ours ever come across you and yours, I hope you and yours will do as much for mine and ours and mine and ours have done for you and yours!
May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks. May your heart be as light as a song. May each day bring you bright, happy hours. That stay with you all the year long.
Erin Go Bragh. (Ireland Forever)
May the cat eat you and may the devil eat the cat.
Sláinte! (Health!/Cheers!)
A silent mouth is sweet to hear.
The Feckin’ Book of Irish Sayings
The Feckin’ Book of Irish Sayings
Famous Irish Quotes
By famous people
I think there’s a bit of the devil in everybody. There’s a bit of a priest in everybody, too, but I enjoyed playing the devil more. He was more fun.
– Actor Gabriel Byrne
There is a courageous wisdom; there is also a false reptile prudence, the result, not of caution, but of fear.
– Edmund Burke
Though the pen is mightier than the sword, the sword speaks louder and stronger at any given moment.
– Leonard Wibberley, Irish author of comic novel “The Mouse That Roared”
I had that stubborn streak, the Irish in me I guess.
– Gregory Peck
A Kerry footballer with an inferiority complex is one who thinks he’s just as good as everybody else.
– Author John B. Keane
Ireland is a peculiar society in the sense that it was a nineteenth century society up to about 1970 and then it almost bypassed the twentieth century.
– Author John McGahern
The immigrant’s heart marches to the beat of two quite different drums, one from the old homeland and the other from the new. The immigrant has to bridge these two worlds, living comfortably in the new and bringing the best of his or her ancient identity and heritage to bear on life in an adopted homeland.
– Irish President McAleese
Whether it be a matter of personal relations within a marriage or political initiatives within a peace process, there is no sure-fire do-it-yourself kit.
– Seamus Heaney
I think the Irish woman was freed from slavery by bingo. They can go out now, dressed up, with their handbags and have a drink and play bingo. And they deserve it.
– Author John B. Keane
Making peace, I have found, is much harder than making war.
– Gerry Adams
Hugging trees has a calming effect on me. I’m talking about enormous trees that will be there when we are all dead and gone. I’ve hugged trees in every part of this little island.
– Gerry Adams
A drunkard is a dead man, and all dead men are drunk.
– Yeats
He was a fiddler, and consequently a rogue.
– Jonathan Swift
Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.
– Sean O’Casey
Everywhere I go I’m asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them. There’s many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.
– Flannery O’Connor
I spent 90% of my money on women and drink. The rest I wasted.
– Soccer superstar George Best
It’s easy to love humanity when you’re this far away from it.
– Actor Daniel Day Lewis (who has lived in Ireland at various times), quoted while looking down from the mountains of Luggala, County Wicklow in The New York Times
I have a thing for red-haired Irish boys, as we know.
– Actress Sandra Bullock
The sword of famine is less sparing than the bayonet of the soldier.
– Thomas F. Meagher
All the world’s a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.
– Sean O’Casey
More Irish Quotes and Irish Blessings
And a few Irish Curses
St. Patrick’s Day is an enchanted time — a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer’s magic.
Adrienne Cook
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat.
Alex Levine
An Irishman is the only man in the world who will step over the bodies of a dozen naked women to get to a bottle of stout.
Anonymous
For the young Gaels of Ireland
Are the lads that drive me mad,
For half their words need footnotes
And half their rhymes are bad.
Arthur Guiterman
An Irishman can be worried by the consciousness that there is nothing to worry about.
Austin O’Malley
Other people have a nationality. The Irish and the Jews have a psychosis.
Brendan Behan
I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society,
except that which makes to road safer, the beer stronger,
the old men and women warmer in the winter, and happier in the summer.
Brendan Behan
Ireland is where strange tales begin
and happy endings are possible.
Charles Haughey
Irishness is not primarily a question of birth or blood or language; it is the condition of being involved in the Irish situation, and usually of being mauled by it.
Conor Cruise O’Brien
For an Irishman, talking is a dance.
Deborah Love
I showed my appreciation of my native land in the usual Irish way by getting out of it as soon as I possibly could.
George Bernard Shaw
An Irishman’s heart is nothing but his imagination.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
My one claim to originality among Irishmen is that I have never made a speech.
George Moore
When Irish eyes are smiling, watch your step.
Gerald Kersh
The problem with Ireland is that it’s a country full of genius, but with absolutely no talent.
Hugh Leonard
But the greatest love — the love above all loves,
Even greater than that of a mother…
Is the tender, passionate, undying love,
Of one beer drunken slob for another.
Irish ballad
May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
Irish blessing
Holy Mother take the harm of the years away from you.
Irish blessing
Health and a long life to you.
Land without rent to you.
A child every year to you.
And if you can’t go to heaven,
May you at least die in Ireland.
Irish blessing
May God grant you many years to live,
For sure He must be knowing
The earth has angels all too few
And heaven is overflowing.
Irish blessing
May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past.
Irish blessing
May you have warm words on a cold evening,
A full moon on a dark night,
And the road downhill all the way to your door.
Irish blessing
May you live as long as you want,
And never want as long as you live.
Irish blessing
May you live to be a hundred years,
With one extra year to repent!
Irish blessing
May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light,
May good luck pursue you each morning and night.
Irish blessing
Walls for the wind,
And a roof for the rain,
And drinks beside the fire —
Laughter to cheer you
And those you love near you,
And all that your heart may desire!
Irish blessing
Bless you and yours
As well as the cottage you live in.
May the roof overhead be well thatched
And those inside be well matched.
Irish blessing
May those who love us love us.
And those that don’t love us,
May God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn’t turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles,
So we’ll know them by their limping.
Irish curse
May the curse of Mary Malone and her nine blind illegitimate children chase you so far over the hills of Damnation that the Lord himself can’t find you with a telescope.
Irish curse
The future is not set, there is no fate but what we make for ourselves.
Irish proverb
Mothers hold their children’s hands for just a little while…
And their hearts forever.
Irish proverb
Now sweetly lies old Ireland
Emerald green beyond the foam,
Awakening sweet memories,
Calling the heart back home.
Irish proverb
‘Tis better to buy a small bouquet
And give to your friend this very day,
Than a bushel of roses white and red
To lay on his coffin after he’s dead.
Irish proverb
Do not resent growing old. Many are denied the privilege.
Irish proverb
Irish Wit and Wisdom
Irish Wit and Wisdom (Mini Books)
Irish Toasts
Toast your friends at the Irish pub
May the leprechauns be near you,
To spread luck along your way.
And may all the Irish angels,
Smile upon you St. Patrick’s Day.
May I see you grey
And combing your grandchildren’s hair.
May there be a generation of children
On the children of your children.
To all the days here and after
May they be filled with fond memories, happiness, and laughter.
May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty.
When we drink, we get drunk.
When we get drunk, we fall asleep.
When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.
When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
So, let’s all get drunk, and go to heaven!
For each petal on the shamrock
This brings a wish your way–
Good health, good luck, and happiness
For today and every day.
I wish you health, I wish you well, and happiness galore.
I wish you luck for you and friends; what could I wish you more?
May your joys be as deep as the oceans, your troubles as light as its foam.
And may you find, sweet peace of mind, where ever you may roam.
May the Devil say a prayer for you.
May there always be work for your hands to do,
May your purse always hold a coin or two.
May the sun always shine warm on your windowpane,
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you,
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
Famous Irish Quotes
A lot of Irish people perform. They perform in drawing rooms. They sing songs and they play piano.
Fiona Shaw
Amongst Women concentrated on the family, and the new book concentrates on a small community. The dominant units in Irish society are the family and the locality. The idea was that the whole world would grow out from that small space.
John McGahern
Angel was the first Irish feature film. Neil’s first movie and my first movie.
Stephen Rea
As they say, one thing led to another, and, ultimately, the British and Irish governments asked me to serve as chairman of the peace negotiations, which ironically began six years ago this week.
George J. Mitchell
At Leeds I’ve tried to concentrate on my club form, but you get caught up in all the World Cup fever once you come back to Ireland and see all the Irish boys again.
Robbie Keane
Being Irish is very much a part of who I am. I take it everywhere with me.
Colin Farrell
Being Irish was a big thing for me, particularly growing up in Chicago.
Lara Flynn Boyle
Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.
William Butler Yeats
But I will say that living in Ireland has changed the cadence and fullness of speech, since the Irish love words and use as many of them in a sentence as possible.
Anne McCaffrey
But if republicans are to prevail, if the peace process is to be successfully concluded and Irish sovereignty and re-unification secured, then we have to set the agenda – no-one else is going to do that.
Gerry Adams
But let’s just say, I’m Irish. I grew up in the 1950s. Religion had a very tight iron fist.
Liam Neeson
Even when they have nothing, the Irish emit a kind of happiness, a joy.
Fiona Shaw
Everything that we inherit, the rain, the skies, the speech, and anybody who works in the English language in Ireland knows that there’s the dead ghost of Gaelic in the language we use and listen to and that those things will reflect our Irish identity.
John McGahern
Finally, Colin Farrell showed up on my doorstep, only he wasn’t Colin Farrell – he was just this Irish kid who had read the script and wanted to do it.
Robert Towne
For a man to come right out and say he does not believe in the Old Testament, I think many Catholics across the nation as well as the world are offended by Bill O’Reilly claiming he’s an Irish Catholic.
Stephen Bennett
Humor has historically been tied to the mores of the day. The Yellow Kid was predicated on what people thought was funny about the immigrant Irish. When you’re different in a society, you’re funny.
Will Eisner
I come from a long line of staunch Irish Catholics.
Robert Vaughn
I grew up in a big Irish, Catholic family. My dad was a pretty rough guy. So one of my brothers left home when he was 15 and found his way to the gym. It gave me the opportunity to go and spend some time with him and work out in the gym.
Gerry Cooney
I grew up mostly with classical, big band, and a lot of Irish music – I really didn’t start listening to rock and roll until I was maybe sixteen.
Moira Kelly
I had great faith in Irish actors, that they’d be hip to the whole theatre thing, and they are. I had no illusions of coming over here as some kind of big shot. It’s been a learning experience for me too.
Christopher Meloni
I had that stubborn streak, the Irish in me I guess.
Gregory Peck
I had to have some balls to be Irish Catholic in South London. Most of that time I spent fighting.
Pierce Brosnan
I have a thing for red-haired Irish boys, as we know.
Sandra Bullock
I have been interested in Irish traditional music for the past few years.
Nobuo Uematsu
I have drawn inspiration from the Marine Corps, the Jewish struggle in Palestine and Israel, and the Irish.
Leon Uris
I have good genes. My father is Danish and my mother is Irish and Native American. They both have good skin.
Virginia Madsen
I have the soul of a singer and do splendidly in the shower but the world will never hear it. Basically, I’m the only Irish person who can’t carry a tune.
Roma Downey
I live again the days and evenings of my long career. I dream at night of operas and concerts in which I have had my share of success. Now like the old Irish minstrel, I have hung up my harp because my songs are all sung.
John McCormack
I loved Jack Ford. I got him in his later days, and he was a total tyrant and a total autocrat and an Irish drunk. But I had a great time.
Richard Widmark
I printed a list of Irish names from the Internet and my husband, Dave, saw Finley on the list. I really liked it but didn’t want to scare Dave off with my enthusiasm. So I used a little reverse psychology and let him think it was his idea.
Holly Marie Combs
I think being a woman is like being Irish. Everyone says you’re important and nice, but you take second place all the same.
Iris Murdoch
I think now, more than anytime I can remember, bands are sounding pretty similar whether they’re English or American, from Manchester or London… or Leeds or Welsh or Irish.
Graham Coxon
I think Paul McGuinness and U2 created the Irish music industry. It certainly wasn’t there before that.
Van Morrison
I think the Irish woman was freed from slavery by bingo. They can go out now, dressed up, with their handbags and have a drink and play bingo. And they deserve it.
John B. Keane
I was for two years a pupil at the Model School in Fort street which was then conducted upon the Irish national system, and if any special religious instruction was given in connection with that system, I do not recollect it.
Edmund Barton
I was raised Irish Catholic, but I don’t consider myself Irish Catholic: I consider myself me, an American.
John Cusack
I went further and further back through the centuries to get a sense of perspective but now at least I understand why Irish history evokes such strong passions and emotions.
James D’arcy
I wrote a script. I actually enjoyed writing it more than acting. It’s about the Irish rebellion of 1920, which is a fascinating period and place for me.
Tom Berenger
I’m an Irish Catholic and I have a long iceberg of guilt.
Edna O’Brien
I’m Irish. I think about death all the time.
Jack Nicholson
I’m just a true Irish boy at heart.
Colin Farrell
I’m proud of my Irish heritage and culture and this show will feature a lot of Irish dancing.
Michael Flatley
I’ve had Irish skin from the time I was a young girl.
Lara Flynn Boyle
If it was raining soup, the Irish would go out with forks.
Brendan Behan
If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized.
Oscar Wilde
If this humor be the safety of our race, then it is due largely to the infusion into the American people of the Irish brain.
William Howard Taft
In 1953 there were two ways for an Irish Catholic boy to impress his parents: become a priest or attend Notre Dame.
Phil Donahue
In Ireland, it’s been like U2 and The Cranberries, which is rock, but you know they’re Irish.
Caroline Corr
In old times people used to try and square the circle; now they try and devise schemes for satisfying the Irish nation.
Samuel Butler
In this context the British and Irish governments will have to promote a new, imaginative and dynamic alternative in which both governments will share power in the north.
Gerry Adams
Irish Americans are no more Irish than Black Americans are Africans.
Bob Geldof
Irish is the prominent nationality in the family, but beyond that, I really don’t know. I see a lot of artistic or creative influence coming through on my mother’s side.
William Wiley
Irish people are educated not only about artistry but local history.
Fiona Shaw
Irish poets, learn your trade, sing whatever is well made, scorn the sort now growing up all out of shape from toe to top.
William Butler Yeats
It has to do with the fact that Ford, for all his greatness, is an Irish egomaniac, as anyone who knows him will say.
Henry Fonda
It is a most disgraceful shame the way in which Irishmen are brought up. They are ashamed of their language, institutions, and of everything Irish.
Douglas Hyde
It is sufficient to say, what everybody knows to be true, that the Irish population is Catholic, and that the Protestants, whether of the Episcopalian or Presbyterian Church, or of both united, are a small minority of the Irish people.
John Bright
It was impossible for me to believe that conditions in Europe could be worse than they were in the Polish section of Chicago, and in many Italian and Irish tenements, or that any workshops could be worse than some of those I had seen in our foreign quarters.
Alice Hamilton
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
Let everyone leave all the guns – British guns and Irish guns – outside the door.
Martin McGuinness