136 Irish Blessings and Sayings

While those that celebrate and practice their Irish heritage year-round are always living by certain Irish blessings, we seem to notice an increase as the days lead up to Saint Patrick’s Day. While the Irish are known for their hearty meals, welcoming hospitality, cultural Irish step-dancing, and of course a tall Guinness — they’re also known to have a strong and powerful system of blessings and sayings that offer encouragement and love. Some are witty and some are more meaningful, but each is just as important to the Irish heritage. Looking for a long list of Irish blessings and Irish sayings this time of the year? You’re in luck!

 

Read on for

136 Irish Blessings, Sayings and Wishes!

 

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.

 

If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, you’re lucky enough.

 

The reason the Irish are always fighting each other is because they have no other worthy opponents.

 

That the ten toes of your feet might always steer you clear of misfortune.

 

You cannot conquer Ireland. You cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom. If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom, then our children will win by a better deed.

 

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are all dead.

 

May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.

 

May the grace of God’s protection and His great love abide within your home and within the hearts of all who dwell inside.

 

May the lilt of Irish laughter lighten every load, May the mist of Irish magic shorten every road, And may you taste the sweetest pleasures That fortune ere bestowed, And may all your friends remember. All the favors you are owed.

 

Play every match as if it’s your last, but play well enough so that it isn’t.

 

(St.) Patrick answered God’s call to “spread the word of Christianity” to Ireland, and so, returned to Ireland, the land that enslaved him. 

 

When I count my blessings, I count you twice. May God Bless You.

 

A trade not properly learned is an enemy. 

 

He who keeps his tongue keeps his friends.

 

Health and long life to you.

 

We must not make a false faith by hiding from our thoughts the causes of doubt, for faith is the highest achievement of the human intellect, the only gift man can make to God, and therefore it must be offered in sincerity.

 

St. Patrick was a gentleman, who through strategy and stealth drove all the snakes from Ireland, here’s to toasting his health. 

 

Why should you never iron a four-leaf clover? You don’t want to press your luck.

 

May the Good Lord take a liking to you — but not too soon.

 

Top of the morning to you!

 

Our weaknesses are the indigenous produce of our characters; but our strength is the forced fruit.

 

The craic was 90 – meaning, “the atmosphere was fun!”

 

In heaven there is no beer; that’s why we drink ours here.

 

May peace and plenty bless your world, With a joy that long endures, And may all life’s passing seasons, Bring the best to you and yours.

 

Beware of the anger of a patient man.

 

There’s no fireside like your own fireside.

 

You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.

 

May your hair never fall out and may your beard be ever bushy.

 

May there be a generation of children, on the children of your children.

 

May God put luck upon you.

 

May the rains sweep gently across your fields, may the sun warm the land, may every good seed you have planted bear fruit and may late summer find you standing in fields of plenty.

 

May good and faithful friends be yours, wherever you may roam.

 

May the most you wish for be the least you get.

 

It’s no use boiling your cabbage twice.

 

Ireland has one of the world’s heaviest rainfalls. If you see an Irishman with a tan, it’s rust. 

 

There are in every generation those who shrink from the ultimate sacrifice, but there are in every generation those who make it with joy and laughter and these are the salt of the generations.

 

Irish Blessings: Part 2

Do not resent growing old, for many are denied the privilege.

 

May your glass be ever full. May the roof over your head be always strong. And may you be in Heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead. 

 

Two people shorten the road.

 

May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future.

 

May you live to be a hundred years, with one extra year to repent.

 

My seven blessings on you.

 

Health and long life to you.

 

May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and a smooth road all the way to your door.

 

I have known many, liked not a few, loved only one; I drink to you.

 

May you be half an hour in Heaven before the Devil knows you’re dead.

 

If I had a flower for every time I thought of you; I could walk through my garden forever.

 

When the roaring flames of your love have burned down to embers, may you find that you’ve married your best friend.

 

He who is out, his share goes cold.

 

Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds follow one another, but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons, a possession for all eternity.

 

May grace and peace be multiplied to you, through the knowledge of God, through knowing what God knows and believing what God believes ….about you

 

You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.

 

For this home and all therein be blessed with God’s love.

 

Tiredness goes away and the benefit remains.

 

Every dog is bold in his own doorway.

 

As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.

 

Time is a great storyteller. 

 

On the Irish ladder of success there’s always some one on the rung above using your head to steady himself.

 

May the Good Lord take a liking to you… but not too soon!

 

The Irish have a sweet tooth. And that’s a good thing, because it has been the inspiration for some wonderful desserts that allow us to end our meal on a happy and sweet note.

 

Grandchildren are gifts of God. It is God’s way of compensating us for growing old.

 

Who gossips with you will gossip about you

 

May your troubles be as few and as far apart as my Grandmother’s teeth.

 

Here’s to your coffin! May your coffin have six handles of finest silver! May your coffin be carried by six fair young maids! And may your coffin be made of finest wood from a 100-year-old tree that I’ll go plant tomorrow!

 

May luck be our companion, may friends stand by our side, may history remind us all of Ireland’s faith and pride. May God bless us with happiness, may love and faith abide. 

 

May good luck be your friend, In whatever you do.

 

It’s the quiet pigs who eat the meal.

 

Here’s to a fellow who smiles when life runs along like a song. And here’s to the lad who can smile when everything goes dead wrong.

 

Whatever the explanation, Irish quotations offer a delightful way to taste the essence of a rich history that has been, by turns, epic, curious, hilarious and sad.

 

There is no wise man without a fault nor any fool without a good trait.

 

If you don’t sow in Spring you won’t reap in Autumn.

 

The best way to keep loyalty in a man’s heart is to keep money in his purse.

 

Bless your little Irish heart and every other Irish part.

 

May the road rise up to meet you.

 

This isn’t a hangover – it’s the Irish flu.

 

The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.

 

It’s a good deed to forget a bad joke.

 

Anyone can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend’s success.

 

There is no flood, however great, that does not ebb away.

 

May the cat eat you, and may the devil eat the cat.

 

Put silk on a goat, it’s still a goat.

 

Irish Blessings Part 3

Irish history stretches back into the dark days of the Celts, yet there is light, laughter and a sense of laissez-faire in the Irish men and women of today. 

 

Grant me a sense of humor, Lord, the saving grace to see a joke, to win some happiness from life, and pass it on to other folks.

 

O Ireland, isn’t it grand you look like a bride in her rich adornin?

 

I’m Irish and Catholic – see my picture in the dictionary next to the word guilt.

 

Don’t let the door hit you on the arse on the way out!

 

Sláinte! 

 

Better one look before you than two behind.

 

May your day be touched by a bit of Irish luck, brightened by a song in your heart and warmed by the smiles of the people you love.

 

“On me tod.”

 

If it was raining soup, the Irish would go out with forks.

 

Happiness being a dessert so sweet, May life give you more than you can ever eat.

 

When a twig grows hard it is difficult to twist it. Every beginning is weak.

 

May the cat eat you, and may the devil eat the cat.

 

Your son is your son today, but your daughter is your daughter forever.

 

May you always find three welcomes in life, in a garden during summer, at a hearth during winter, adn in the hearts of friends throughout all your years. Wishing you a pot ‘o’ gold, and all the joy your heart can hold.

 

God is good, but never dance in a small boat.

 

May you only grow old in the face. Be treasured and cared for with grace.

 

A best friend is like a four-leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have.

 

Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!

 

May the enemies of Ireland never meet a friend.

 

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.

 

There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.

 

Wherever you go and whatever you do, May the luck of the Irish be there with you.

 

May peace and plenty be the first to lift the latch on your door, And happiness be guided to your home by the candle of Christmas.

 

May the enemies of Ireland never eat bread nor drink whisky, but be tormented with itching without benefit of scratching.

 

May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door.

 

That the enemies of Ireland never meet a friend.

 

Like the warmth of the sun And the light of the day, may the luck of the Irish shine bright on your way.

 

May you be content as Christmas finds you all year-round.

 

The rose and the shamrock will always remind me, Of lanes in the hills that I left far behind me.

 

May you always choose right, In whatever you do.

 

May God grant you always… A sunbeam to warm you, A moonbeam to charm you,A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you.

 

Lie down with dogs and you’ll rise with fleas.

 

St. Patrick’s Day is an enchanted time — a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer’s magic.

 

My the clouds in your life be only a background for a lovely sunset.

 

Tis better by far at the rainbows end to find not a pot of gold but the heart of a friend.

 

May you die in bed at ninety-five years, shot by a jealous husband.

 

And may trouble be always, A stranger to you.

 

May the wind always be at your back.

 

May the grass grow long on the road to Hell for want of use.

 

Here’s to Hell! May the stay there be as fun as the way there!

 

Here’s to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold pint and another one!

 

May you get all your wishes but one, so that you will always have something to strive for!

 

It is often that a person’s mouth broke his nose.

 

May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, the foresight to know where you’re going, and the insight to know when you’re going too far.

 

May the most you wish for be the least you get.

 

A family of Irish birth will argue and fight, but let a shout come from without, and see them all unite.

 

May misfortune follow you the rest of your life, and never catch up.

 

The man who has luck in the morning has luck in the afternoon.

 

May your troubles be less and your blessings be more. And nothing but happiness comes through your door.

 

If God sends you down a stony path, May He give you strong shoes.

 

May the luck of the Irish possess you. May the devil fly off with your worries.