Some special Irish sayings and blessings this Christmas season

Love, drink and wisdom all contained in Irish phrases

The Irish have a way with words as we all know. The following is a sample of sayings and proverbs that have lasted for generations.

The Demon Drink
 
If Holy Water was beer he'd be at mass every morning

Whiskey when you're sick makes you well, whiskey when you're well makes you sick

Wine drowns more men than water

You've never seen a collection for a needy publican

The drunk will soon have daylight in through the rafters

A man in need of a drink thinks of great schemes to get it

Drink is a curse-- it makes you shoot at your landlord --and miss him
 
Before you call for one for the road be sure you know the road

Love

A widow and her money are soon courted

A young man is bothered till he's married after that he's bothered all the time

If a man is in love he is no judge of beauty but when love wears off he'll tell a woman about her warts

Marriage changes a man and makes the woman who changed him complain about him not being the same man she married

Sweet is the voice for a woman of a man who has wealth

If you love her in rags your love will last

A silent mouth is the sweetest sound
Empty and cold is a house without a woman
 
Health to the men but may the women live forever

Wisdom

There is hope from the sea but none from the graveyard

A poor man's tale is rarely heard

Better to go to bed supperless than to rise in debt

Contentment is greater than a kingdom

The three strongest forces, fire, water and hatred

Three sharpest eyes, a blacksmith on a nail, a priest on his parish, a young girl on a boy

Hope is the cure for all misery

Everyone is an expert until they speak

They are taken from a book called Timeless Wisdom available at www.ucdpress.ie.

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