212 Sayings of Irish Origin

1. "If God shuts one door, He opens another." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

2. "Take gifts with a sigh; most men give to be paid." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

3. "What is the world to a man when his wife is a widow." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

4. "Marriages are all happy. It's having breakfast together that causes all the trouble." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

5. "Quiet people are well able to look after themselves." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

6. "Walls have ears." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

7. "There's no need to fear the wind if your haystacks are tied down." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

8. "It is easier to demolish a house than to build one." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

9. "If you hit my dog you hit myself." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

10. "A friend's eye is a good mirror." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

11. "Turning it over in your mind won't plough the field." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

12. "He who gets a name for early rising can stay in bed until midday." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

13. "Even a small thorn causes festering." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

14. "The older the fiddle the sweeter the tune." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

15. "It is not a fish until it is on the bank." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

16. "Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you fight with your neighbor. It makes you shoot at your landlord and it makes you miss him." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

17. "The steed does not retain its speed forever." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

18. "It's not a matter of upper and lower class but of being up awhile and down awhile." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

19. "It is not a secret if it is known by three people." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

20. "A questioning man is halfway to being wise." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

21. "The little fish feed the big fish." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

22. "When fire is applied to a stone it cracks." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

23. "God's help is nearer than the door." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

24. "Don't change your horse when you are about to cross a river." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

25. "The wearer best knows where the shoe pinches." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

26. "Things aren't as they seem." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

27. "A man is often a bad adviser to himself and a good adviser to another." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

28. "Love is blind to blemishes and fault." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

29. "He is bad that will not take advice, but he is a thousand times worse that takes every advice." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

30. "There is no luck except where there is discipline." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

31. "If the knitter is weary the baby will have no new bonnet." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

32. "Two thirds of help is to give courage." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

33. "If you want to know me come and live with me." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

34. "Two shorten the road." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

35. "Youth sheds many a skin." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

36. "The day will come when the cow will have use for her tail." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

37. "Snuff at a wake is fine if there's nobody sneezing over the snuff box." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

38. "Don't give cherries to a pig; don't give advice to a fool." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

39. "The trick the father has, the son has." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

40. "When you are right no one remembers; when you are wrong no one forgets." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

41. "Never bolt your door with a boiled carrot." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

42. "A scholar's ink lasts longer than a martyr's blood." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

43. "A turkey never voted for an early Christmas." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

44. "The well fed does not understand the lean." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

45. "The smallest thing outlives the human being." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

46. "Crafty advice is often got from a fool." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

47. "Be neither intimate nor distant with the clergy." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

48. "The Irish forgive their great men when they are safely buried." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

49. "Say but little, and say it well." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

50. "A narrow neck keeps the bottle from being emptied in one swig." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

51. "What whiskey will not cure, there is no cure for." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

52. "The person who doesn't scatter the morning dew will not comb grey hairs." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

53. "When the drop is inside the sense is outside." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

54. "There never was an old slipper but there was an old stocking to match it." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

55. "Live in my heart and pay no rent." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

56. "Put silk on a goat, and it's still a goat." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

57. "It is often that a cow does not take after its breed." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

58. "Bricks and mortar make a house, but the laughter of children make a home." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

59. "Falling is easier than rising." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

60. "It is a bad hen that does not scratch herself." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

61. "Three things that can't be taught, generosity, poetry and a singing voice." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

62. "Neither give cherries to pigs nor advice to fools." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

63. "Handfuls make a load." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

64. "Your own deeds will long be baptized on you." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

65. "Every patient is a doctor after his cure." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

66. "A drink precedes a story." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

67. "A fast is better than a bad meal." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

68. "If you have one pair of good soles it is better than two pairs of good uppers." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

69. "This is better than the thing we never had." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

70. "It's no use boiling your cabbage twice." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

71. "All sins cast long shadows." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

72. "Instinct is stronger than upbringing." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

73. "Scattering is easier than gathering." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

74. "An old broom knows the dirty corners best." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

75. "A trout in the pot is better than a salmon in the sea." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

76. "Good as drink is, it ends in thirst." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

77. "When the liquor was gone the fun was gone." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

78. "God often pays debts without money." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

79. "Don't talk about a rope in the house of someone whose father was hung." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

80. "Need teaches a plan." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

81. "When the goat goes to church, he does not stop till he gets to the altar." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

82. "Nodding the head does not row the boat." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

83. "One beetle recognizes another." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

84. "If you want to be criticized, marry." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

85. "You'll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

86. "A silent mouth is musical." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

87. "The hole is more honorable than the patch." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

88. "Do not mistake a goat's beard for a fine stallion's tail." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

89. "No time for your health today, will result in no health for your time tomorrow." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

90. "Every beginning is weak." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

91. "The apple does not fall far from the tree." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

92. "When the hand ceases to scatter, the heart ceases to pray." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

93. "It is to please herself that the cat purrs." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

94. "There never was a scabby sheep in a flock that didn't like to have a comrade." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

95. "It is easy to halve the potato where there is love." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

96. "Patience is poultice for all wounds." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

97. "There is no need like the lack of a friend." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

98. "Listen to the sound of the river and you will get a trout." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

99. "Mere words do not feed the friars." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

100. "Trust me, but look to thyself." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

101. "A small debt makes a man your debtor, a large one your enemy." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

102. "It's as hard to see a woman crying as it is to see a barefooted duck." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

103. "Age is honorable and youth is noble." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

104. "Nature breaks through the eyes of the cat." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

105. "Soft words butter no parsnips, but they won't harden the heart of the cabbage either." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

106. "The man with the boots does not mind where he places his foot." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

107. "Even a tin knocker will shine on a dirty floor." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

108. "A hound's food is in its legs." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

109. "The light heart lives long." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

110. "Strife is better than loneliness." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

111. "When the sky falls we'll all catch larks." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

112. "One woman understands another." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

113. "The full person does not understand the needs of the hungry." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

114. "When the apple is ripe it will fall." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

115. "You are not a fully fledged sailor unless you have sailed under full sail, and you have not built a wall unless you have rounded a corner." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

116. "A barrel that contains the wine will retain the drop in its staves." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

117. "There is no strength without unity." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

118. "What's got badly, goes badly." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

119. "That which is nearest a woman's heart is the first to come out." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

120. "If the cat sits long enough at the hole, she will catch the mouse." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

121. "Humor to a man is like a feather pillow. It is filled with what is easy to get but gives great comfort." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

122. "Hope is the physician of each misery." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

123. "There is no woman more accustomed to bad shoes on her than the cobbler's wife." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

124. "Everyone is wise until he speaks." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

125. "A rolling stone gathers no moss." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

126. "May you live to be a hundred, and decide then rest for yourself." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

127. "When a twig grows hard it is difficult to twist it." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

128. "Anything is better than a bad marriage." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

129. "Sense does not come before age." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

130. "Fear is a fine spur; so is rage." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

131. "It is a long road that has no turning." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

132. "If you do not sow in the spring you will not reap in the autumn." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

133. "One may live without one's friends but not without one's pipe." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

134. "As the old cock crows the young cock learns." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

135. "The mills of God grind slowly but they grind finely." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

136. "The day of the storm is not the time for thatching your roof." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

137. "There is hope from the sea, but none from the grave." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

138. "There was often a bad cloth on a tailor and a bad shoe on a cobbler." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

139. "You must live with a person to know a person." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

140. "There is no fireside like your own fireside." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

141. "Comfort is not known if poverty does not come before it." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

142. "Three diseases without shame, love, itch, and thirst." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

143. "A hungry ass keeps her kicking end down." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

144. "An Irishman is never at his best except when fighting." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

145. "A hut is a palace to the poor man." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

146. "A lock is better than suspicion." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

147. "It's for her own good that the cat purrs." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

148. "It takes time to build castles." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

149. "Let him who will not have advice have conflict." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

150. "If you want an audience start a fight." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

151. "Two thirds of the work is the semblance." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

152. "Though honey is sweet, don't lick it off a briar." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

153. "A person's heart is in his feet." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

154. "The longest road out is the shortest road home." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

155. "Good sense is as important as food." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

156. "It is the quiet pigs that eat the meal." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

157. "A hen is heavy when carried far." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

158. "Better be quarrelling than lonesome." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

159. "The people meet each other but the hills do not." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

160. "Walk straight, my son, as the old crab said to the young crab." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

161. "Thirst is the end of drinking and sorrow is the end of drunkenness." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

162. "Good luck comes in slender currents, misfortune in a rolling tide." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

163. "As the big hound is, so will the pup be." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

164. "God likes help when helping people." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

165. "A trade not properly learned is an enemy." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

166. "You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

167. "Love conceals ugliness, and hate sees many faults." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

168. "What the child sees, the child does. What the child does, the child is." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

169. "The work praises the man." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

170. "The best way to keep loyalty in a man's heart is to keep money in his purse." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

171. "Never burn a penny candle looking for a halfpenny." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

172. "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

173. "Every invalid is a physician." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

174. "You must crack the nuts before you can eat the kernel." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

175. "A glutton lives to eat; a wise man eats to live." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

176. "Praise the ripe field, not the green corn." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

177. "Get down on your knees and thank God you're still on your feet." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

178. "It is the good horse that draws its own cart." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

179. "Marry a mountain girl and you marry the whole mountain." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

180. "May you have a bright future, as the chimney sweep said to his son." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

181. "He who comes with a story to you brings two away from you." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

182. "Wine divulges truth." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

183. "The covetous person is always in want." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

184. "A poor person is often worthy." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

185. "It is better to exist unknown to the law." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

186. "A loan long continued usually confers ownership." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

187. "A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

188. "Twenty years a child; twenty years running wild; twenty years a mature man, and after that, praying." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

189. "Women do not drink liquor but it disappears when they are present." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

190. "Men are like bagpipes, no sound comes from them till they're full." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

191. "The world would not make a racehorse of a donkey." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

192. "There are finer fish in the sea than have ever been caught." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

193. "The beginning of health is sleep." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

194. "It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead for the rest of your life." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

195. "It's a bad hen that won't scratch herself." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

196. "The slow horse reaches the mill." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

197. "Time is a great story teller." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

198. "It is sweet to drink but bitter to pay for." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

199. "Money swore an oath that nobody who did not love it should ever have it." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

200. "In at one ear and out at the other." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

201. "Lack of resource has hanged many a person." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

202. "People live in each other's shelter." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

203. "Both your friend and your enemy think you will never die." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

204. "Good luck beats early rising." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

205. "Every eye forms its own fancy." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

206. "Praise the young and they will blossom." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

207. "It is in the shelter of each other that the people live." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

208. "The old pipe gives the sweetest smoke." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

209. "Better one good thing that is than two good things that were." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

210. "What fills the eye fills the heart." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

211. "Any man can lose his hat in a fairy wind." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

212. "The three most beautiful sights, a potato garden in bloom, a ship under sail, and a woman after the birth of a child." (Irish Sayings) Click to tweet