Irish proverbs and sayings, a very complete collection of words of wisdom.
The Irish are known for their humor, wit, and strong character. There have been several notable Irish writers and authors whose contribution to literature is simply remarkable. Their witty and meaningful quotes are sure to make you laugh and think at the same time.
But the Irish people, with their culture and their thoughts, during the centuries created an incredible amount of wise saying, words of wisdom and proverbs, so here are some of the most popular Irish proverbs and sayings about an amazing variety of subjects, or we might better say about everything under the sun.
The are a kind of everyday life lessons for everyone of us and what’s more they are a very personal form of Irish popular literary expression. Born of a practical, thrifty and hardworking people, we find these proverbs “make sense” as a part of our cherished Irish culture.
An Englishman is never happy but when he becomes miserable, a Scotchman never at home but when he is abroad, and an Irishman never at peace but when he is fighting.
(Sayings of Irish origin)
The Englishman weeps, the Irishman sleeps, but the Scotchman gangs while he gets it.
(Sayings of Irish origin)
No time for your health today, will result in no health for your time tomorrow.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Every eye forms its own fancy.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
God likes help when helping people.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
All sins cast long shadows.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
One woman understands another.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Strife is better than loneliness.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
If God shuts one door, He opens another.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
It is to please herself that the cat purrs.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Your own deeds will long be baptized on you.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Two thirds of help is to give courage.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures in the doctor’s book.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Don’t talk about a rope in the house of someone whose father was hung.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Nature breaks through the eyes of the cat.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Turning it over in your mind won’t plough the field.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Every invalid is a physician.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
When the apple is ripe it will fall.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead for the rest of your life.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
If the cat sits long enough at the hole, she will catch the mouse.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
It is easier to demolish a house than to build one.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Turning it over in your mind won’t plough the field.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
The person who doesn’t scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Good luck beats early rising.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
There is no luck except where there is discipline.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
A hungry ass keeps her kicking end down.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Get down on your knees and thank God you’re still on your feet.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Say but little, and say it well.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
The day of the storm is not the time for thatching your roof.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
What’s got badly, goes badly.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
He is bad that will not take advice, but he is a thousand times worse that takes every advice.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Never burn a penny candle looking for a halfpenny.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
A small debt makes a man your debtor, a large one your enemy.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
God often pays debts without money.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
A silent mouth is melodious.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Comfort is not known if poverty does not come before it.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Anything is better than a bad marriage.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Praise the young and they will make progress.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
That which is nearest a woman’s heart is the first to come out.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Marry a mountain girl and you marry the whole mountain.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
What whiskey will not cure, there is no cure for.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Twenty years a child; twenty years running wild; twenty years a mature man – and after that, praying.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Love conceals ugliness, and hate sees many faults.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Bricks and mortar make a house, but the laughter of children make a home.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Be neither intimate nor distant with the clergy.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
If you want an audience start a fight.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
It is easy to halve the potato where there is love.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Your own deeds will long be baptized on you.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
The person who doesn’t scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
A glutton lives to eat; a wise man eats to live.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
A questioning man is halfway to being wise.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Everyone is wise until he speaks.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Good sense is as important as food.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Live in my heart and pay no rent.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
You don’t give a man a weapon until you’ve taught him how to dance.
Irish proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Marriages are all happy – it’s having breakfast together that causes all the trouble.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
When you are right no one remembers; when you are wrong no one forgets.
Irish Proverb (Sayings of Irish origin)
Take gifts with a sigh; most men give to be paid.
Proverb, (Irish)
The beginning of health is sleep.
Proverb, (Irish)
The best way to keep loyalty in a man’s heart is to keep money in his purse.
Proverb, (Irish)
The day will come when the cow will have use for her tail.
Proverb, (Irish)
The devil never grants long leases.
Proverb, (Irish)
The full person does not understand the needs of the hungry.
Proverb, (Irish)
The herb that can’t be got is the one that heals.
Proverb, (Irish)
The hole is more honorable than the patch.
Proverb, (Irish)
The Irish forgive their great men when they are safely buried.
Proverb, (Irish)
The longest road out is the shortest road home.
Proverb, (Irish)
The mason who strikes often is better than the one who strikes too hard.
Proverb, (Irish)
The mills of the gods grind slowly but they grind finely.
Proverb, (Irish)
The old pipe gives the sweetest smoke.
Proverb, (Irish)
The older the fiddle the sweeter the tune.
Proverb, (Irish)
The raggy colt often made a powerful horse.
Proverb, (Irish)
The seeking for one thing will find another.
Proverb, (Irish)
The slow horse reaches the mill.
Proverb, (Irish)
The stars make no noise.
Proverb, (Irish)
The thief is no danger to the beggar.
Proverb, (Irish)
The wearer best knows where the shoe pinches.
Proverb, (Irish)
The windy day is not a day for scallops [thatching].
Proverb, (Irish)
The work praises the man.
Proverb, (Irish)
There are finer fish in the sea than have ever been caught.
Proverb, (Irish)
There are fish in the sea better than have ever been caught.
Proverb, (Irish)
There is hope from the sea, but none from the grave.
Proverb, (Irish)
There is no luck except where there is discipline.
Proverb, (Irish)
There is no strength without unity.
Proverb, (Irish)
There never was a scabby sheep in a flock that didn’t like to have a comrade.
Proverb, (Irish)
There never was an old slipper but there was an old stocking to match it.
Proverb, (Irish)
There’s no need to fear the wind if your haystacks are tied down.
Proverb, (Irish)
Though honey is sweet, do not lick it off a briar.
Proverb, (Irish)
Treachery returns.
Proverb, (Irish)
Trust me, but look to thyself.
Proverb, (Irish)
Two shorten the road.
Proverb, (Irish)
Two thirds of the work is the semblance.
Proverb, (Irish)
Two-thirds of help is to give courage.
Proverb, (Irish)
A cabin with plenty of food is better than a hungry castle.
Proverb, (Irish)
A dimple in the chin; a devil within.
Proverb, (Irish)
A dog with two homes is never any good.
Proverb, (Irish)
A fast is better than a bad meal.
Proverb, (Irish)
A good retreat is better than a bad stand.
Proverb, (Irish)
A hut is a palace to the poor man.
Proverb, (Irish)
A kind word never broke any body’s mouth.
Proverb, (Irish)
A lock is better than suspicion.
Proverb, (Irish)
A man is often a bad adviser to himself and a good adviser to another.
Proverb, (Irish)
A narrow neck keeps the bottle from being emptied in one swig.
Proverb, (Irish)
A new broom sweeps clean, but an old broom knows the corners.
Proverb, (Irish)
A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse.
Proverb, (Irish)
A quarrel is like buttermilk: once it’s out of the churn, the more you shake it, the more sour it grows.
Proverb, (Irish)
A scholar’s ink lasts longer than a martyr’s blood.
Proverb, (Irish)
A silent mouth is sweet to hear.
Proverb, (Irish)
A sly rogue is often in good dress.
Proverb, (Irish)
A trade not properly learned is an enemy.
Proverb, (Irish)
A trout in the pot is better than a salmon in the sea.
Proverb, (Irish)
A turkey never voted for an early Christmas.
Proverb, (Irish)
A Tyrone woman will never buy a rabbit without a head for fear it’s a cat.
Proverb, (Irish)
All sins cast long shadows.
Proverb, (Irish)
Any man can lose his hat in a fairy wind.
Proverb, (Irish)
Anything will fit a naked man.
Proverb, (Irish)
As the old cock crows, the young cock learns.
Proverb, (Dutch, Irish)
A blind man can see his mouth.
Proverb, (Irish)
A buckle is a great addition to an old shoe.
Proverb, (Irish)
If the knitter is weary the baby will have no new bonnet.
Proverb, (Irish)
If you come up in this world, be sure not to go down in the next.
Proverb, (Irish)
If you have one pair of good soles it is better than two pairs of good uppers.
Proverb, (Irish)
Instinct is stronger than upbringing.
Proverb, (Irish)
It destroys the craft not to learn it.
Proverb, (Irish)
It is a long road that has no turning.
Proverb, (Irish)
It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead the rest of your life.
Proverb, (Irish)
It is better to exist unknown to the law.
Proverb, (Irish)
It is easy to halve the potato where there’s love.
Proverb, (Irish)
It is no time to go for the doctor when the patient is dead.
Proverb, (Irish)
It is not a fish until it is on the bank.
Proverb, (Irish)
It is the quiet pigs that eat the meal.
Proverb, (Irish)
It’s a bad hen that won’t scratch herself.
Proverb, (Irish)
It’s as hard to see a woman crying as it is to see a barefooted duck.
Proverb, (Irish)
It’s for her own good that the cat purrs.
Proverb, (Irish)
It’s no delay to stop to edge the tool.
Proverb, (Irish)
It’s no use boiling your cabbage twice.
Proverb, (Irish)
Its no use going to the goat’s house to look for wool.
Proverb, (Irish)
Necessity knows no law.
Proverb, (Danish, Dutch, Irish, Latin)
Need teaches a plan.
Proverb, (Irish)
Neither give cherries to pigs nor advice to fools.
Proverb, (Irish)
Never bolt your door with a boiled carrot.
Proverb, (Irish)
Never buy through your ears but through your eyes.
Proverb, (Irish)
No matter how often a pitcher goes to the water it is broken in the end.
Proverb, (Irish)
Nodding the head does not row the boat.
Proverb, (Irish)
Nature breaks through the eyes of the cat.
Proverb, (Irish)
Nature will come through the claws, and the hound will follow the hare.
Proverb, (Irish)
What fills the eye fills the heart.
Proverb, (Irish)
Winter comes fast on the lazy.
Proverb, (Irish)
Women do not drink liquor but it disappears when they are present.
Proverb, (Irish)
We’ll never know the worth of water till the well go dry.
Proverb, (Irish)
What fills the eye fills the heart.
Proverb, (Irish)
What is in the marrow is hard to take out of the bone.
Proverb, (Irish)
What the child sees, the child does. What the child does, the child is.
Proverb, (Irish)
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Proverb, (Irish)
When a twig grows hard it is difficult to twist it. Every beginning is weak.
Proverb, (Irish)
When the hand ceases to scatter, the heart ceases to pray.
Proverb, (Irish)
When the sky falls we’ll all catch larks.
Proverb, (Irish)
Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.
Proverb, (Irish)
Walk straight, my son – as the old crab said to the young crab.
Proverb, (Irish)
People live in each other’s shelter.
Proverb, (Irish)
Poor is the church without music.
Proverb, (Irish)
Poor men take to the sea, the rich to the mountains.
Proverb, (Irish)
Postpone not a good action.
Proverb, (Irish)
Poverty parts good company.
Proverb, (Irish)
Praise the ripe field, not the green corn.
Proverb, (Irish)
Praise the young and they will blossom.
Proverb, (Irish)
Put a beggar on horseback and he’ll gallop.
Proverb, (Irish)
Put silk on a goat and it is still a goat.
Proverb, (Irish)
Patience is poultice for all wounds.
Proverb, (Irish)
You must crack the nuts before you can eat the kernel.
Proverb, (Irish)
Your son is your son until he marries, but your daughter is your daughter until you die.
Proverb, (Irish)
Youth does not mind where it sets its foot.
Proverb, (Irish)
Youth has a small head.
Proverb, (Irish)
Youth sheds many a skin. The steed (horse) does not retain its speed forever.
Proverb, (Irish)
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.
Proverb, (Irish)
You must crack the nuts before you can eat the kernel.
Proverb, (Irish)
You’ll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind.
Proverb, (Irish)
You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.
Proverb, (Irish)
Better be quarreling than lonesome.
Proverb, (Irish)
Better fifty enemies outside the house than one within.
Proverb, (Irish)
Better one good thing that is than two good things that were.
Proverb, (Irish)
Beware of people who dislike cats.
Proverb, (Irish)
Death is the poor man’s best physician.
Proverb, (Irish)
Even a tin knocker will shine on a dirty floor.
Proverb, (Irish)
Every invalid is a doctor.
Proverb, (Irish)
Every patient is a doctor after his cure.
Proverb, (Irish)
Everyone is nice until the cow gets into the garden.
Proverb, (Irish)
Everyone is wise until he speaks.
Proverb, (Irish)
Handfuls make a load.
Proverb, (Irish)
Happiness follows simplicity.
Proverb, (Irish)
He who gets a name for early rising can stay in bed until midday.
Proverb, (Irish)
His eyes are like two burnt holes in a blanket.
Proverb, (Irish)
Humor to a man is like a feather pillow. It is filled with what is easy to get but gives great comfort.
Proverb, (Irish)
Lack of resource has hanged many a person.
Proverb, (Irish)
Let him who will not have advice have conflict.
Proverb, (Irish)
Listen to the sound of the river and you will get a trout.
Proverb, (Irish)
Marry a mountain girl and you marry the whole mountain.
Proverb, (Irish)
Men are like bagpipes: no sound comes from them till they’re full.
Proverb, (Irish)
Mere words do not feed the friars.
Proverb, (Irish)
God is good, but never dance in a small boat.
Proverb, (Irish)
Good luck beats early rising.
Proverb, (Irish)
Good luck comes in slender currents, misfortune in a rolling tides.
Proverb, (Irish)
Great hate follows great love.
Proverb, (Irish)
Falling is easier than rising.
Proverb, (Irish)
Fear is a fine spur; so is rage.
Proverb, (Irish)
Firelight will not let you read fine stories but it’s warm and you won’t see the dust on the floor.
Proverb, (Irish)
Scattering is easier than gathering.
Proverb, (Irish)
Snuff at a wake is fine if there’s nobody sneezing over the snuff box.
Proverb, (Irish)
Soft words butter no parsnips, but they won’t harden the heart of the cabbage either.
Proverb, (Irish)
Keep a thing for seven years and you’ll find a use for it.
Proverb, (Irish)
Quiet people are well able to look after themselves.
Proverb, (Irish)
Crafty advice is often got from a fool.
Proverb, (Irish)
Continual cheerfulness is a sign of wisdom.
Proverb, (Irish)
One beetle recognizes another.
Proverb, (Irish)
About Ireland you can also read:
Saint’s Patrick Day legend and celebrations
Read more about world proverbs and sayings:
https://www.daimon.org/lib/proverbs.htm
https://www.daimon.org/lib/ebooks/Classified-Proverbs.pdf
