Irish proverbs

Proverbs from all Irish speaking parts of the world.

A

 * An cleas a bhíos ag an deaid, bíonn sé ag an mac.
 * Translation: The trick the father has, the son has.
 * English equivalent: Like father, like son.
 * "Sons may look and behave like their fathers. This is due to inheritance and the example observed closely and daily."
 * Source for meaning and proverbs:

B

 * Ba mhinic droch-éadach ar tháilliúr 's droch-bhróg ar ghréasaidh.
 * Translation: There was often a bad cloth on a tailor and a bad shoe on a cobbler.
 * English equivalent: The shoemaker goes barefoot.
 * Meaning: "Working hard for others one may neglect one's own needs or the needs of those closest to him."
 * Source for meaning and proverbs:


 * Bíonn gach tosú lag.
 * Translation: Every beginning is weak.
 * Swedish equivalent: We all start out as children.


 * Bíonn cluasa ar na clathacha.
 * Translation and English equivalent: Walls have ears.
 * Meaning: "What you say may be overheard; used as a warning."
 * Source for meaning of English equivalent:

C

 * Casar na daoiní ar a chéile, ach ní chastar na cnuic.
 * Translation: The people meet each other but the hills do not.
 * English equivalent: A mountain never meets a mountain, but a man meets a man.
 * Meaning: There are some things/events that are impossible, like an encounter of mountains, but there is always a chance for people to meet. or Once can always find a possibility for revenge.
 * Source for proverbs and meaning:

I

 * Is trian de'n obair tús a chur.
 * Translation: It is a third of the work to begin.
 * English equivalent: Well begun, is half done.
 * Meaning: Starting properly ensures the speedy completion of a process. A – beginning is often blocked by one or more obstacles (potential barriers) the removal of which may ensure the smooth course of the process.
 * Source for meaning and proverbs:

L

 * Leig isteach ar chluas as amach ar cluas.
 * Translation: In at one ear and out at the other.
 * English equivalent: Advice most needed is the least heeded.

N

 * Na h-éisg bheaga a bheathuigheas na h-éisg mhóra.
 * Translation: The little fish feed the big fish.
 * English equivalent: Men are like fish; the great ones devour the small.
 * Meaning: "Small organizations or insignificant people tend to be swallowed up or destroyed by those that are greater and more powerful."
 * Source for meaning:


 * Na tabhair malairt de do chapall nuair ata tu ag dul trasna ar an abhainn.
 * English equivalent: Don't change horses in midstream.
 * Source for meaning of English equivalent:


 * "Ní bhíonn airgead amadáin i bhfad ina phóca."
 * Translation: A fool's money is not long in his pocket.


 * Ní gnáthach caonnach ar an gcloich bhíonn a' sior-chorruighe.
 * Translation and English equivalent: A rolling stone gathers no moss.
 * Meaning: "There are a Set of People in the World of fo unfettled and reftleis a Temper, and such Admirers of Novelty, that they can never be long pleafed with one way of’ living, no more than to continue long in one Habitation; but before they are well enter’d upon one Buﬁnefs, dip into another, and before they are well fettled in one Habitation, remove to another; fo that they are always bufily beginning to live, but by reafon of Ficklenefs and Impatience, never arrive at a way of living: fuch Perfons fall under the Doom of this Proverb, which is delign’d to fix the Volatility of their Tempers, by laying before them the ill Confequences of fuch Ficklenefs and Inconltancy."
 * Source for meaning of English equivalent: Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721


 * Ní mar a shíltear a bhítear.
 * Translation: Things aren't as they seem.


 * Ní thagann ciall roimh aois.
 * Translation: Sense does not come before age.
 * English equivalent: Reason does not come before years.
 * "Thou canst scarcely be truly wise till thou hast been deceived. Thy own Errors will teach thee more Prudence, than the grave Precepts, and even Examples of others."
 * Thomas Fuller, Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727)


 * Ní thuigeann an seach an seang.
 * Translation:The well fed person doesn't understand the hungry one.''
 * English equivalent: No one knows where the shoe pinches, but he who wears it.
 * Meaning: "Nobody can fully understand another person's hardship or suffering."
 * Source for meaning of English equivalent:


 * Níl aon bhean is gnáthiage drochbhróga uirthí ná bean an ghréasaidhe.
 * Translation: There is no woman more accustomed to bad shoes on her than the cobbler's wife.
 * English equivalent: The cobbler's wife is the worst shod.
 * Meaning: "Working hard for others one may neglect one's own needs or the needs of those closest to him."
 * Source for proverbs and meaning:


 * "Níor bhris focal maith fiacail riamh."
 * Translation: A good word never broke a tooth.

T

 * Toradh an chrainn a thuitfeas an duilleabhar.
 * English equivalent: The apple does not fall far from the tree.