Favourite Irish Proverbs

In Ireland, perhaps the most hated subject among those of school-going age is the Irish language, a guttural Celtic tongue spoken by Queen Elizabeth II, Barack Obama, and, most famously, a red-haired Meath man named Hector. On Irish-language TV channel TG4, films such as the Harry Potter series are broadcast as Gaeilge, as is foul-mouthed American animated series South Park (see here for an example -- the Irish begins around twenty seconds in).  Anyway, below are a few of the examples of old Irish sayings  that I remember from my school days. (Annotated.)

An rud nach leigheasann im ná uisce beatha níl aon leigheas air.
What butter or whiskey does not cure cannot be cured.

Yes, this is what they teach in Irish schools.

Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin.
There is no fireside like your own fireside.

If you say this while clicking your heels together, you are instantly transported to the verdant hills of Kerry. Unfortunately, it only works with magic shoes, and Michael Flatley owns the only pair.

Cuir síoda ar ghabhar agus is gabhar i gcónaí é.
Put silk on a goat and it’s still a goat.

But put lipstick on a sheep and you’ve got yourself a date!

Níl aon leigheas ar an ngrá ach pósadh.
The only cure for love is marriage.

Ancient Ireland was full of would-be Jerry Seinfeld-style stand-up comedians, who would make witty observations about everyday things, like going grocery shopping during a famine. It was a hard living, and many starved, “dying on stage”; thus the idiom that we still use today.

An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas?

May I go to the toilet?

Not a proverb as such, but as schoolchildren are required to know this if they wish to be excused from class to use the bathroom, it is the only Irish sentence that most people in Ireland know.

Honourable Mention: 

Is beo duine gan a chairde ach ní beo duine gan a phíopa.
One may live without one's friends, but not without one's pipe.

I have no idea what they were going for with this one.

Photo: Aaron Logan