Famous Irish Sayings:
Proverbs, Blessings, Quotes and More!

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Famous Irish Proverbs

Famous Irish Toasts and Blessings

Famous Irish Jokes

Famous Irish Quotes

Famous Irish Limericks

Famous Irish Slang

Let's Learn Some Famous Irish Sayings

Famous Irish Proverbs

Irish proverbs – like any proverbs – are typically short phrases about life values. These famous Irish sayings are usually, less humorous and more thoughtful.  We use them as birthday blessings, ‘teachable moments’ for our kids, and wise words on greeting cards.

"A handful of skill is worth a bagful of gold."

- Irish Proverb

Want to see a whole bunch more Irish proverbs?

Visit our Irish Proverbs page here!

Famous Irish Toasts and Blessings

Sharing Irish blessings is one of the easiest and most memorable ways to express our Irish sides!   Whether truth or legend, the Irish are known for the 'gift of gab,' and for expressing ourselves beautifully through the written or spoken word.

“May your troubles be less and your blessings be more.

And nothing but happiness come through your door.”

- Irish Blessing

Want to learn a few Irish blessings, and add them to your repertoire of Irish expressions? 

Visit our Irish Blessings page here!

Famous Irish Jokes

Jokes from Ireland often find humor in simple matters, in hardships, and in double meanings.  And like any style, Irish jokes range from ‘ho-hum’ to side-splittingly funny!

Just for the record, we prefer the second type!

O'Gorman jumped up from the card table white with rage

'Stop this game!' he shouted. 'Fitzgerald is cheating!'

'How do you know?' his partners asked with concern.

'He's not playing the hand I dealt him!'

Want more examples of Irish humor?

Visit our Irish jokes section here!

Famous Irish Quotes

For some reason, people who are not Irish love to make catchy comments about the Irish.  Many of these have ‘stuck,’ in part because … well… they are true. 

“We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English.” 

– Winston Churchill

Not to be outdone, we Irish love to make pithy observations about themselves.

Curious? See our page on Irish Quotes.

Famous Irish Limericks

No discussion of famous Irish Sayings would be complete without talking about the mighty Irish Limerick.  This catchy little poem has a long, proud history.  And yet it is so simple to understand and enjoy.

In fact, they are so easy to write, we have contests in our family to see who can come up with the best Irish limerick.

There was a young woman from Stroud,

Whose artistic skills did her proud,

She thought it not rude,

To paint in the nude,

And soon drew a sizeable crowd.

For a quick overview of the limerick style, followed by links to hundreds of entertaining examples...

Visit our main section on Irish Limericks 

Famous Irish Slang

If you are an English speaker, never fear. Most Irishmen and women, and their countrymen around the world, do speak English to some extent.

It is safe to say, however, that many tourists can have an hour-long conversation with a local without truly understanding a single thing.  Trust us, we've been there!

"Away on that!"

Irish slang: your companion is not believing your words.

For many more examples of indecipherable Irish phrases...

Visit our Irish Slang page here!

Ready to Earn Your Sayings Zone Badge?

You've learned some Famous Irish Sayings - now it's time to record your progress in your IE Passport.  Take this fun and informative short quiz, to test your knowledge of Irish Sayings and move one step closer to your next IE Passport stamp!

More Fun With Irish Expressions

Congratulations on learning more about the Emerald Isle and discovering what we like to call your "Irish Side."  You may be thinking "I'd love to actually VISIT Ireland but that's really not in the cards right now.  What am I supposed to do with the stuff I just learned?"

Well never fear!  Since 2007 we have collected all of the best printable, shareable resources we could find, to help you put your new knowledge of Ireland to good use.  We've put them all together in a single download we call "Your Irish Expressions Playbook," which contains over 100 pages of games, puzzles, recipes, songbooks, quizzes, travel guides and much, much more.

Purchase them ALL for one small price, print as many copies as you like and share them with your friends - with no limitations!   But order soon - we are already adding to the Playbook for future editions and this price will not last long. 

Oh, want one more reason to order right away?  If you buy YOUR copy of the Playbook now, you will be allowed to upgrade to any new future edition for FREE.

PRO TIP:  Be sure to click the 'return to merchant' button following checkout, to ensure you are routed to the page where you can download your Playbook.  Any issues?  Just reach out to us at support@irish-expressions.com and we will make it right.

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