Irish Proverbs...Happy St. Patrick's Day (wife, strange, eats, people)

[ylisa7]

Irish Proverbs: Drinking

A man takes a drink, the drink takes a drink, the drink takes the man.
It’s the first drop that destroys you, there’s no harm at all in the last.

If it’s drowning you’re after, don’t torment yourself with shallow water.


Irish Proverbs: Romance & Marriage

It's easy to halve the potato where there's love.

If you want praise, die. If you want blame, marry.

Beauty won't make the kettle boil.

Honey is sweet, but don’t lick it off a briar.

Don’t show your skin to a person who won’t cover it.

A man cannot grow rich without his wife's leave.

Irish Proverbs: Character & Honour

Better good manners than good looks.

It is more difficult to maintain honour than to become prosperous.

Promise is in honour’s debt.

Forgetting a debt doesn’t mean it’s paid.

A man may live after losing his life but not after losing his honour.

Better to be a man of character than a man of means.

Better the trouble that follows death than the trouble that follows shame.

If you come up in this world be sure not to go down in the next.

Who gossips with you will gossip of you.

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

Irish Proverbs: Human Nature

You never miss the water till the well runs dry.

Everyone feels his own wound first.

The pig in the sty doesn’t know the pig going along the road.

Pity him who makes an opinion a certainty.

No two people ever lit a fire without disagreeing.

Seeing is believing, but feeling is the God’s own truth.

It is the quiet pig that eats the meal.

A glowing gríosach (ember) is easily rekindled.

The person bringing good news knocks boldly on the door.


Irish Proverbs: Life's Ups & Downs

There’s nothing so bad that it couldn’t be worse.

Life is a strange lad.

If God sends you down a stony path, may he give you strong shoes.

It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good.

However long the day, night must fall.

You must take the little potato with the big potato.

God prefers prayers to tears.