Celtic Fest Quotes

Celtic Quotes

Ireland

As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction! Irish blessing
I have never liked working. To me a job is an invasion of privacy. Danny McGoorty Irish Pool Player
He was a bold man who first ate a Haggis. unknown
Men are like bagpipes no sound comes from them till they're full. unknown
Charity begins at home, but shouldn't end there. Scottish proverb
May the roof above you never fall in, and may we friends gathered below never fall out. Irish blessing
Did you hear about the Irish boomerang? It doesn't come back, but it sings sad songs about why it can't. unknown
If you want praise die, If you want blame get married. Irish proverb
May you live as long as you want. And never want as long as you live. Irish toast
The most beautiful music of all is the music of what happens. Irish proverb
'Tis better to buy a small bouquet and give to your friend this very day, than a bushel of roses white and red to lay on his coffin after he's dead. Irish proverb
Michael and I grew old together. But at times, when we laughed, we grew young. Jackie O'Shea (Waking Ned Devine)
A hair on the head is worth two on the brush. Irish proverb
A light heart lives long. Irish proverb
A turkey never voted for an early Christmas. Irish proverb
Bricks and mortar make a house, but the laughter of children makes a home. Irish proverb
Better to be quarrelling than lonesome. Irish proverb
May all who love the Lord, love you and those who don't love you, may the Lord give them a limp so you can see them coming. Irish blessing
May the road rise to meet you. May the wind always be 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. Irish blessing
What may be done at any time will be done at no time. Scottish proverb
For the great Gaels of Ireland Are the men that God made mad, For all their wars are merry And all their songs are sad. G.K. Chesterton
Bad news goes about in clogs, Good news in stockinged feet. Welsh proverb
A friend's eye is a good mirror Celtic proverb
Wishing you always walls for the wind, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, and the love and laughter of those you hold dear. Celtic Toast
May God be with you and bless you. May you see your children's children. May you be poor in misfortunes and rich in blessings. May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward. Irish Marriage Blessing
May joy and peace surround you, contentment latch your door, and happiness be with you now and bless you evermore. Irish Toast
May the best ye've ever seen be the worst ye'll ever see. May a moose ne'er leave yer girnal wi' a tear drap in his e'e. May ye aye keep hale an' herty till ye're auld eneuch tae dee. May ye aye be just as happy as we wish ye aye tae be. Scottish Toast
Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue. But never forget to remember those who have stuck by you. Celtic Proverb
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance. George Bernard Shaw
May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and the road downhill all the way to your door. Celtic Proverb
May the Lord keep you in His hand and never close His fist too tight. Celtic Proverb
If God send you down a stony path, may He give you strong shoes. Irish Blessing
To be red-haired is better than to be without a head. Celtic Saying
Ireland, it's the one place on earth That heaven has kissed With melody, mirth, And meadow and mist. Irish Saying
Man is incomplete until he marries. After that, he is finished. Irish Saying
'Tis better to spend money like there's no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there's no money! Irish Saying
God made time, but man made haste. Irish Saying
You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind. Celtic Saying
Well, Tommy, he said, I wish you and yours every joy in life, old chap, and tons of money, and may you never die 'til I shoot you. James Joyce, Dubliners (but don't get the idea that Dubliners is funny; it's mainly depressing)
Bless O Lord the food we are about to eat, And we pray you O God may it be good for our body and our soul. And if there is any poor creature hungry or thirsty walking the road May God send him in to us so that we can share the good with him Just as God shares his gifts with all of us. Irish Grace
I would like to have the men of Heaven In my own house With vats of good cheer Laid out for them. I would like a great lake of beer For the King of Kings I would like to be watching Heaven's family Drinking it through all eternity. Irish Prayer
In Dublin's fair city where the girls are so pretty I once met a girl named sweet Molly Malone and she wheeled her wheel barrow through the streets broad and narrow singing cockles and mussels alive alive oh Traditional Song
Do not resent growing old. Many are denied the privilege. Irish Proverb
May you never forget what is worth remembering, nor ever remember what is best forgotten. Irish Blessing
Cead mile failte (kaid meel-aa fawl-cha) Gaelic for "one hundred thousand welcomes"
All ground is holy and every bush (could we but perceive it) a Burning Bush. Belfast native C.S. Lewis
Out for lunch. If not back by five, out for dinner also. Sign on a Kinsale, Ireland shop
Dublin University contains the cream of Ireland - rich and thick. Samuel Beckett
God then made man. The Italians for their beauty. The French for their cuisine. The Welsh for their voices. The Germans for their cars. And on and on until He looked at what He had created and said, "This is all very well, but no-one is having fun. I'll have to make an Irishman." unknown
All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed. Sean O'Casey
When asked what race makes the best soldiers: "The Scotch who came to this country by way of Ireland. They have all the dash of the Irish in taking a position and all the stubbornness of the Scotch in holding it." Robert E. Lee
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here. My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer. Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe, My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go. Robert Burns
Many a time a man's mouth broke his nose. Irish Proverb
In Ireland 100 miles is a long way, but in America 100 years is a long time. Irish bartender
Visitor to a pub in Ireland: I come from New England. Irish barfly: Badly needed! from the novel Shannon by Frank Delaney
if a man were permitted to make all the ballads he need not care who should make the laws of a nation. Andrew Fletcher
When we had a king, and a chancellor, and parliament - men o' our ain, we could aye peeble them wi' stanes when they werena gude bairns - But naebody's nails can reach the length o' Lunnon. Sir Walter Scott
Mony a mickle maks a muckle! (Saving a small amount soon builds up to a large amount) Scottish Saying
Friends are lost by calling too often, and calling too seldom. Scottish Proverb
Three equals: a king, a harper, and a poet Irish saying
May your troubles be as few and as far apart as my grandmother's teeth. Irish toast
A close moth catches nae flees Scottish Proverb
A' [All] complain o' want o' siller [silver], but nane o' want o' sense. Scottish Proverb
A crookit stick will throw a crookit shadow Scottish Proverb
A' [All] I got frae him I could put in my eye and see nane the waur for't Scottish Proverb
A nod's as gude's a wink to a blind horse. Scottish Proverb
A rich man has mair cousins than his father had kin. Scottish Proverb
A short grace is gude for hungry folk. Scottish Proverb
A Scot is a Scot even unto a hundred generations. Scotland Rising
May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, and all your heart might desire. Irish Blessing
Here's wishin' you the luck of the Irish, by which I mean 800 years of foreign oppression Gary Randolph
Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead. Scottish Proverb
My theory is that all of Scottish cuisine is based on a dare. Mike Myers
Give us the future. We've had enough of your past. Give us back our country to live in, to grow in, to love. Michael Collins during treaty negotiations after the Irsih war of independence
The older the fiddle the sweeter the tune Irish proverb
The longest road out is the shortest road home Irish proverb
The road to Heaven is well signposted, but it's badly lit at night Irish proverb
No matter how many rooms you have in your house you can only sleep in the one bed Irish proverb
I'm Irish. I think about death all the time. Jack Nicholson
I think being a woman is like being Irish. Everyone says you're important and nice, but you take second place all the same. Irish-born author Iris Murdoch
"Well, it takes all kinds of men to build a railroad." "No sir, just us Irish." Railroad barons in "Dodge City," Warner Bros., 1939
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go. Oscar Wilde
Better half hang'd than ill married. Scottish proverb
Beautiful young people are acts of nature, But beautiful old people are works of art. Irish saying
It is better to be merry spending money, than sorrowful acquiring it. Scottish proverb
Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy. W.B. Yeats, Irish poet
For you can't hear Irish tunes without knowing you're Irish, and wanting to pound that fact into the floor. Jennifer Armstrong, author of "Becoming Mary Mehan"
They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools! - they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace. Padraig Pearse, leader of the 1916 Easter Rising
Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute. George Bernard Shaw
There is no sincerer love than the love of food. George Bernard Shaw
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. George Bernard Shaw
Get on your knees and thank the Lord that you are on your feet. Irish saying
We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. George Bernard Shaw
To dig a canal, at least four things are necessary, a shovel, a pick, a wheelbarrow, and an Irishman. Saying from early 1800's America
May there always be work for your hands to do. May your purse always hold a coin or two. May the sun always shine on your window-pane. May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain. May the hand of a friend always be near you. May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you. Irish Blessing
May God grant you always A sunbeam to warm you, A moonbeam to charm you, A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you. Irish Blessing
It was a "warm" Scottish day, meaning that the mist wasn't quite heavy enough to qualify as a drizzle, but not far off, either. From the novel Outlander
Definition of a gentleman: someone who knows how to play the bagpipes but doesn't. Unknown
Drink is a curse. It makes you shoot at your landlord and miss him. Irish Proverb
The road to a friend's house is never long Irish Saying
I'm writing an Irish-Catholic version of "Inside Out," where the only 2 characters are Guilt and Jameson's. Conan O'Brien
When one beathes Irish air, one becomes a practical man. George Bernard Shaw
We Irish prefer embroideries to plain cloth. To us Irish, memory is a canvas - stretched, primed, and ready for painting on. We love the "story" part of the word "history," and we love it trimmed out with color and drama, ribbons and bows. Listen to our tunes, observe a Celtic scroll: we always decorate our essence. Frank Delaney
A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything. Irish saying
I've always wanted to go to Switzerland to see what the army does with those wee red knives. Scottish comic Billy Connolly
It is remarkable with what Christian fortitude and resignation we can bear the suffering of other folks. Jonathan Swift
Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute. George Bernard Shaw
Those in power write the history, while those who sufer write the songs, and given our history, we have an awful lot of songs. Frank Harte
He was a bold man that first ate an oyster. Jonathan Swift
Always remember to forget The troubles that passed away. But never forget to remember The blessings that come each day. Irish blessing
May you live all the days of your life. Jonathan Swift
Bless you and yours As well as the cottage you live in. May the roof overhead be well thatched And those inside be well matched. Irish blesing
May all your troubles be little ones and all your little ones be trouble free. Irish blessing
A companion shortens a road. Irish proverb
Beauty doesn't boil the kettle. Irish proverb
Now don't be talking about yourself while you're here. We'll surely be doing that after you leave. Irish saying
May your home always be too small to hold all your friends. Irish saying
They taught me everything I know; the real Scottish virtues of hard work and sarcasm - which have got me through. Actor Peter Capaldi, thanking his parents as part of an award acceptance speech

As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction!

Irish blessing

I have never liked working. To me a job is an invasion of privacy.

Danny McGoorty Irish Pool Player

He was a bold man who first ate a Haggis.

unknown

Men are like bagpipes no sound comes from them till they're full.

unknown

Charity begins at home, but shouldn't end there.

Scottish proverb

May the roof above you never fall in, and may we friends gathered below never fall out.

Irish blessing

Did you hear about the Irish boomerang? It doesn't come back, but it sings sad songs about why it can't.

unknown

If you want praise die, If you want blame get married.

Irish proverb

May you live as long as you want. And never want as long as you live.

Irish toast

The most beautiful music of all is the music of what happens.

Irish proverb

'Tis better to buy a small bouquet and give to your friend this very day, than a bushel of roses white and red to lay on his coffin after he's dead.

Irish proverb

Michael and I grew old together. But at times, when we laughed, we grew young.

Jackie O'Shea (Waking Ned Devine)

A hair on the head is worth two on the brush.

Irish proverb

A light heart lives long.

Irish proverb

A turkey never voted for an early Christmas.

Irish proverb

Bricks and mortar make a house, but the laughter of children makes a home.

Irish proverb

Better to be quarrelling than lonesome.

Irish proverb

May all who love the Lord, love you and those who don't love you, may the Lord give them a limp so you can see them coming.

Irish blessing

May the road rise to meet you. May the wind always be 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.

Irish blessing

What may be done at any time will be done at no time.

Scottish proverb

For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry
And all their songs are sad.

G.K. Chesterton

Bad news goes about in clogs, Good news in stockinged feet.

Welsh proverb

A friend's eye is a good mirror

Celtic proverb

Wishing you always walls for the wind, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, and the love and laughter of those you hold dear.

Celtic Toast

May God be with you and bless you. May you see your children's children. May you be poor in misfortunes and rich in blessings. May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.

Irish Marriage Blessing

May joy and peace surround you, contentment latch your door, and happiness be with you now and bless you evermore.

Irish Toast

May the best ye've ever seen be the worst ye'll ever see. May a moose ne'er leave yer girnal wi' a tear drap in his e'e. May ye aye keep hale an' herty till ye're auld eneuch tae dee. May ye aye be just as happy as we wish ye aye tae be.

Scottish Toast

Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue. But never forget to remember those who have stuck by you.

Celtic Proverb

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.

George Bernard Shaw

May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and the road downhill all the way to your door.

Celtic Proverb

May the Lord keep you in His hand and never close His fist too tight.

Celtic Proverb

If God send you down a stony path, may He give you strong shoes.

Irish Blessing

To be red-haired is better than to be without a head.

Celtic Saying

Ireland, it's the one place on earth
That heaven has kissed
With melody, mirth,
And meadow and mist.

Irish Saying

Man is incomplete until he marries. After that, he is finished.

Irish Saying

'Tis better to spend money like there's no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there's no money!

Irish Saying

God made time, but man made haste.

Irish Saying

You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.

Celtic Saying

Well, Tommy, he said, I wish you and yours every joy in life, old chap, and tons of money, and may you never die 'til I shoot you.

James Joyce, Dubliners (but don't get the idea that Dubliners is funny; it's mainly depressing)

Bless O Lord the food we are about to eat,
And we pray you O God may it be good for our body and our soul.
And if there is any poor creature hungry or thirsty walking the road
May God send him in to us so that we can share the good with him
Just as God shares his gifts with all of us.

Irish Grace

I would like to have the men of Heaven
In my own house
With vats of good cheer
Laid out for them.
I would like a great lake of beer
For the King of Kings
I would like to be watching Heaven's family
Drinking it through all eternity.

Irish Prayer

In Dublin's fair city
where the girls are so pretty
I once met a girl named sweet Molly Malone
and she wheeled her wheel barrow
through the streets broad and narrow
singing cockles and mussels alive alive oh

Traditional Song

Do not resent growing old. Many are denied the privilege.

Irish Proverb

May you never forget what is worth remembering, nor ever remember what is best forgotten.

Irish Blessing

Cead mile failte (kaid meel-aa fawl-cha)

Gaelic for "one hundred thousand welcomes"

All ground is holy and every bush (could we but perceive it) a Burning Bush.

Belfast native C.S. Lewis

Out for lunch. If not back by five, out for dinner also.

Sign on a Kinsale, Ireland shop

Dublin University contains the cream of Ireland - rich and thick.

Samuel Beckett

God then made man. The Italians for their beauty. The French for their cuisine. The Welsh for their voices. The Germans for their cars. And on and on until He looked at what He had created and said, "This is all very well, but no-one is having fun. I'll have to make an Irishman."

unknown

All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.

Sean O'Casey

When asked what race makes the best soldiers: "The Scotch who came to this country by way of Ireland. They have all the dash of the Irish in taking a position and all the stubbornness of the Scotch in holding it."

Robert E. Lee

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here.
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer.
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Robert Burns

Many a time a man's mouth broke his nose.

Irish Proverb

In Ireland 100 miles is a long way, but in America 100 years is a long time.

Irish bartender

Visitor to a pub in Ireland: I come from New England.
Irish barfly: Badly needed!

from the novel Shannon by Frank Delaney

if a man were permitted to make all the ballads he need not care who should make the laws of a nation.

Andrew Fletcher

When we had a king, and a chancellor, and parliament - men o' our ain, we could aye peeble them wi' stanes when they werena gude bairns - But naebody's nails can reach the length o' Lunnon.

Sir Walter Scott

Mony a mickle maks a muckle! (Saving a small amount soon builds up to a large amount)

Scottish Saying

Friends are lost by calling too often, and calling too seldom.

Scottish Proverb

Three equals: a king, a harper, and a poet

Irish saying

May your troubles be as few and as far apart as my grandmother's teeth.

Irish toast

A close moth catches nae flees

Scottish Proverb

A' [All] complain o' want o' siller [silver], but nane o' want o' sense.

Scottish Proverb

A crookit stick will throw a crookit shadow

Scottish Proverb

A' [All] I got frae him I could put in my eye and see nane the waur for't

Scottish Proverb

A nod's as gude's a wink to a blind horse.

Scottish Proverb

A rich man has mair cousins than his father had kin.

Scottish Proverb

A short grace is gude for hungry folk.

Scottish Proverb

A Scot is a Scot even unto a hundred generations.

Scotland Rising

May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, and all your heart might desire.

Irish Blessing

Here's wishin' you the luck of the Irish, by which I mean 800 years of foreign oppression

Gary Randolph

Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead.

Scottish Proverb

My theory is that all of Scottish cuisine is based on a dare.

Mike Myers

Give us the future. We've had enough of your past. Give us back our country to live in, to grow in, to love.

Michael Collins during treaty negotiations after the Irsih war of independence

The older the fiddle the sweeter the tune

Irish proverb

The longest road out is the shortest road home

Irish proverb

The road to Heaven is well signposted, but it's badly lit at night

Irish proverb

No matter how many rooms you have in your house you can only sleep in the one bed

Irish proverb

I'm Irish. I think about death all the time.

Jack Nicholson

I think being a woman is like being Irish. Everyone says you're important and nice, but you take second place all the same.

Irish-born author Iris Murdoch

"Well, it takes all kinds of men to build a railroad."
"No sir, just us Irish."

Railroad barons in "Dodge City," Warner Bros., 1939

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.

Oscar Wilde

Better half hang'd than ill married.

Scottish proverb

Beautiful young people are acts of nature, But beautiful old people are works of art.

Irish saying

It is better to be merry spending money, than sorrowful acquiring it.

Scottish proverb

Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.

W.B. Yeats, Irish poet

For you can't hear Irish tunes without knowing you're Irish, and wanting to pound that fact into the floor.

Jennifer Armstrong, author of "Becoming Mary Mehan"

They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools! - they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.

Padraig Pearse, leader of the 1916 Easter Rising

Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.

George Bernard Shaw

There is no sincerer love than the love of food.

George Bernard Shaw

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

George Bernard Shaw

Get on your knees and thank the Lord that you are on your feet.

Irish saying

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

George Bernard Shaw

To dig a canal, at least four things are necessary, a shovel, a pick, a wheelbarrow, and an Irishman.

Saying from early 1800's America

May there always be work for your hands to do.
May your purse always hold a coin or two.
May the sun always shine on your window-pane.
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Irish Blessing

May God grant you always
A sunbeam to warm you,
A moonbeam to charm you,
A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you.

Irish Blessing

It was a "warm" Scottish day, meaning that the mist wasn't quite heavy enough to qualify as a drizzle, but not far off, either.

From the novel Outlander

Definition of a gentleman: someone who knows how to play the bagpipes but doesn't.

Unknown

Drink is a curse. It makes you shoot at your landlord and miss him.

Irish Proverb

The road to a friend's house is never long

Irish Saying

I'm writing an Irish-Catholic version of "Inside Out," where the only 2 characters are Guilt and Jameson's.

Conan O'Brien

When one beathes Irish air, one becomes a practical man.

George Bernard Shaw

We Irish prefer embroideries to plain cloth. To us Irish, memory is a canvas - stretched, primed, and ready for painting on. We love the "story" part of the word "history," and we love it trimmed out with color and drama, ribbons and bows. Listen to our tunes, observe a Celtic scroll: we always decorate our essence.

Frank Delaney

A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.

Irish saying

I've always wanted to go to Switzerland to see what the army does with those wee red knives.

Scottish comic Billy Connolly

It is remarkable with what Christian fortitude and resignation we can bear the suffering of other folks.

Jonathan Swift

Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.

George Bernard Shaw

Those in power write the history, while those who sufer write the songs, and given our history, we have an awful lot of songs.

Frank Harte

He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.

Jonathan Swift

Always remember to forget
The troubles that passed away.
But never forget to remember
The blessings that come each day.

Irish blessing

May you live all the days of your life.

Jonathan Swift

Bless you and yours
As well as the cottage you live in.
May the roof overhead be well thatched
And those inside be well matched.

Irish blesing

May all your troubles be little ones
and all your little ones be trouble free.

Irish blessing

A companion shortens a road.

Irish proverb

Beauty doesn't boil the kettle.

Irish proverb

Now don't be talking about yourself while you're here. We'll surely be doing that after you leave.

Irish saying

May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.

Irish saying

They taught me everything I know; the real Scottish virtues of hard work and sarcasm - which have got me through.

Actor Peter Capaldi, thanking his parents as part of an award acceptance speech

Firepit