Irish Gaelic quotes
interest me both because I love old quotes in general, and because both my wife and I number among the nearly 35 million Americans who can trace at least some of their ancestry back to the Emerald Isle. Both us love most things Irish, though in fact after much reading, I can only conclude that I still don’t know even a fraction about the country’s rich culture and history that I’d like to know. My wife and I have only visited Ireland once, some 12 years ago. We both agree that it numbers among our very favorite destinations and hope someday to return.
Not least among the list of things Irish that I love is the sound of Irish Gaelic spoken by native speakers, and I sometimes daydream about learning the Irish language, though to be honest, I’ll probably never have the time for it. Still, for this post, I thought I’d share some favorite Irish phrases and wisdom that I’ve collected.
My own pronunciation of the language is, of course, ridiculously bad, not that I don’t still try. If you’d like to try to pronounce some of these Gaelic words yourself, I suggest visiting The New English-Irish Dictionary online at https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/online for guidance.
Irish Greetings and Farewells
As the New English-Irish dictionary points out, there are three major dialects in Irish Gaelic, (all of which differ greatly from Scottish Gaelic and other ancient forms of the language), so pronunciation and phrasing will differ from one part of Ireland to the next. But these greetings and farewells, at least, are very likely to be understood by any Irish Gaelic speaker.
Dia duit. This is said in place of greeting someone with “Hello.” The literal translation of the phrase is God and Mary be with you. Generally, one responds with Dia is Mhuire agus Pádraig duit—God and Mary and St. Patrick be with you.
Conas atá tú? How are you?
Tá áthas orm bualadh leat. Pleased to meet you.
Fáilte! This is one of the more famous Gaelic words in the United States. It means: welcome!
Maidin mhaith! Good morning!
Slán. Good-bye.
Slán leat. Good-bye, said by one who leaves.
Slán agat. Good-bye, said by one who stays.
Slán go fóill. I will see you later.
Tabhair aire. Stay safe and take care.
Bíodh lá maith agat. Have a good day or more literally, Be day good at you!
Good Irish Gaelic Quotes for Tattoos
The first three below are pretty commonly chosen, while the rest are phrases that I think could make an interesting choice for the right person. With wording of a tattoo, it’s a good idea to recheck spelling and translation at least three times and find three native speakers who can vouch for its correctness. If you’re not a native speaker yourself, you can’t be too sure.
Before you use any of these Irish phrases in a permanent way, double- and triple-check the spelling and the meaning! Do your research in case I’ve made an error.
By the way, if you want more tattoo quote ideas, check out our Badass Latin Phrases for Tattoos!
Éire go Brách — Ireland ’til the end of time
Tada Gan Iarracht – nothing without effort
a chuisle mo chroi — Pulse of my heart, which is an Irish way of saying, I love you.
Is ait an mac an saol — Life is strange.
An rud is annamh is iontach — The thing that’s seldom is wonderful.
An té a bhíónn siúlach, bíonn scéalach — He who travels has stories to tell.
Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde — Beware the anger of the patient man.
Féasta anocht agus gorta amárach — A feast tonight and a famine tomorrow.
Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine — In the shelter of each other, people survive.
An rud nach fiú é a lorg, ní fiú í a fháil — What is not worth seeking, is not worth finding.
Ní neart go cur le chéile — Find strength in unity.
Beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach — Live to fight another day.
Maireann croí éadrom i bhfad — A light heart lives longest.
Ní mar a shíltear a bhítear — Things aren’t as they seem.
Is tú mo ghrá — You are my love.
Other Irish Gaelic Quotes
These old unattributed Irish Gaelic sayings are personal favorites. Perhaps in another post, I’ll list my favorite attributed quotes of Irish speakers. It would make for a long post.
Trí na chéile a thógtar na cáisléain. In our togetherness, castles are built.
Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat! May you be eaten by a cat that will be eaten by the devil!
Ní bhíonn airgead amadáin i bhfad ina phóca. A fool’s money is not long in his pocket.
Is maith an t-anlann an t-ocras. Hunger is a great sauce.
Is leor nod don eolach. The wise man takes a hint.
Bíonn grásta Dé idir an diallait agus an talamh. The grace of God lies between the saddle and the earth.
Bíonn gach tosú lag. Every beginning is weak.
Fillean an feall ar an bhfeallaire. The bad deed returns on the doer of the bad deed.
An té a luíonn le madaí, eiriodh se le dearnaid. He who lies down with dogs gets fleas.
Is minic a bhris béal duine a shorn. Many a time a man’s mouth broke his nose.
Bíonn ciúin ciontach. The guilty are silent.
Féasta anocht agus gorta amárach. A feast tonight and a famine tomorrow.
Tús maith leath na hoibre. A good start is half the work.
Is fearr Gaeilge briste, ná Béarla clíste. Broken Irish is better than clever English.
Is fearr an tsláinte ná na táinte. Health is better than wealth.
Ní thagann ciall roimh aois. Sense does not come before age.
Ní thuigheann an sách an seang. The well-fed do not understand the lean.
If you feel like you could use a little more inspiration, luck, or a fresh start, check out Bryn’s journal The Book of Dreams Come True. The easy, fun creative exercises can help you find your enthusiasm again!
Let us know what you think!
If you have a correction on any of these Gaelic words, or if you want to one of your favorite Irish Gaelic quotes, please do so in the comments. Thanks so much for stopping by!
These are fascinating (and some are hilarious), thank you for sharing!
My pleasure! I love putting together lists like this one. So glad you enjoyed it!
I like these Gill.
I’m part Irish and my grandparents had this poem on their mantle (in English, not Gaelic) and though it’s commonly known I still thought I’d post it…
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
I love this one, too, Chris. Interesting to read that some believe it was said first by St. Patrick. Knowing that and loving the sentiment makes me want to add it to our household somewhere.
Céad míle fáilte!
(It’s my favorite ever since I learned the meaning of it through my job.)
Loved this post! 🙂
I like it very much as well, but I have to admit that it makes me a little nervous, because I’m often quiet in some circumstances, even when innocent!
This list of phrases will help so many authors who are writing fantasy with faerie folk and the like. It’s great that you are getting in touch with your roots.
Thanks, Naomi! I take pride in my Irish ancestry and only wish I had more time to learn more about it.
I always enjoy reading these. Thank you.
You’re welcome! And thank you for reading.
Thank you, Gill. This is awesome….You two seem to be a good team. I’m happy for you. I’ve been married for 55 years and we raised and now enjoy our 3 daughters and their families. We have always been a good team with the good, bad and ugly…We are lucky in this day and age and we know it…Take good care of each other….
Jan: I’m very glad Stace asked me to contribute to her blog. As with most everything she sets her hand to, it’s become quite a wonderful thing… 55 years is an extraordinary number. Congrats and thank you!
So many interesting phrases. Although I don’t speak Irish Gaelic I loved reading the translations. I’m sure Duolingo does Irish lessons and if I wasn’t still learning Welsh I’d think of having a go. Greetings from another Donovan whose ancestors went East instead of West!
Greetings to you, Maria Donovan! You’re down under, I suppose? Good luck with learning Welsh, a language with a fascinating history of its own. If only I had time, I’d learn both.
I wonder, do you research your Donovan heritage? I try, but records are scarce once one starts searching for the first half of the 19th century in Ireland.
Maria: you meant, not down under, but to Wales, of course. Do you live there now?
Hey Gill, thanks for the wonderful list!
I wish I could boast some Irish heritage but Ireland is just my most favorite country.
With having been there twice I feel lucky and that, if I visited the emerald isle again I’ll probably stay there forever.
Irish is high on the list of languages to learn too but for know it is Spanish and Russian via an app. It is only five minutes a day each but it works.
Maybe there is something for Irish too and a five minute break in your day?
Anyway, good luck to anyone who is up to or in the middle of learning a new language!
Go raibh míle maith agat ??? grá mór duit ❤
maidin mhaith Lassie
Tears and beglory tis grand I am to hear from you this mornin.
I’m in the process of trying to write two books about my ancestors that came from Ireland. One is entitled “The Irish Pirates” the other is “The Shillelagh Murder”. This is really my first try at fiction writing. All my previous books have been on technical subjects. My last book that came out December 2020 was “Total Innovation Management Excellence – TIME”. I will have another book coming out next month on how to transform your company making it more innovative. Up to now all of my work has been done through standard publishing organizations. My normal publishers are, Prentice-Hall, McGraw-Hill, or Taylor and Francis. You will find many of my books on Amazon.
All my normal publishers indicated that they were only interested in technical books so it looks like I will have to self publish these two books. It’s obvious I’ll have to learn a lot more about how to market the book i am writing.
Keep up the good work. I’m sure we all appreciate your effort.
If you want to contact me by email my address is hjh@svinet.com and my phone number is 408-356-7518.
Wishing you and yours a very healthy and wealthy 2021
H. James Harrington
author of the little big book series.
I loved this post! As an Irish person living in Ireland I always love to see the Irish language getting attention. So many people across the world have links to Ireland so it always makes me smile to see to see people taking an interest in our language. Languages are meant to grow and help people connect to each other.
If you don’t mind me saying, can I just say that Dia duit actually means God be with you whilst Dia is Mhuire duit is God and Mary be with you. If you really want to one up the person you’re taking to you could say Dia is Mhuire agus Pádraig duit, but it wouldn’t be too common.
This post was amazing, a brilliant read for St. Patrick’s day! If you really love Irish phrases could I suggest looking up how to insult someone in Irish? That’s where things really get interesting.
Lá Fhéile Phádraig shona duit agus do teaghlach!
Slán go fóill!
Is minic a bhris béal duine a shrón (srón – nose, lenited after the possessive “a”)
Is fearr Gaeilge bhriste, ná Béarla clíste (briste is lenited after the feminine noun Gaeilge)
The Microsoft Edge browser can read Irish text, using Irish pronunciation rules, if you would like to hear some of these phrases spoken out loud.
In Microsoft Edge, select the phrase in Irish, right-click and select “Read aloud selection”. Click the pause button in the middle of the Read aloud toolbar that appears at the top of the page, then click on Voice options at the right, and scroll down to Microsoft Orla, then press play again. With the Read aloud toolbar open, you can just select each phrase that you want to hear, and press the Play button at the top.
This will work in Microsoft Edge on Windows, on a Mac, or on an Android phone/tablet. I haven’t tested it on an iPad/iPhone, but Microsoft Edge is available on that platform too.
Bíonn ciúin ciontach. “the silent are guilty” rather than “The guilty are silent”.
An rud nach fiú é a lorg, ní fiú é a fháil – the pronoun é shouldn’t change to í in the 2nd clause
What does “salann na beatad iread leabain maite” mean?