Seanfhocail

It takes one to know one

It is in hardship that a friend is recognised

The knot nearest the throat is the the one to release first

Don't count your chickens before they're hatched

The herb that can't be found is the very one which works

What the child sees the child does

What the ghost writes, the ghost reads

What goes on for a long time loses its attractiveness

What's seldom is wonderful

The very thing a person dreads most in the world could be the best thing for him

What can't be cured must be endured

The impossible cannot be done

The lamb teaching its mother how to bleat

When the rod hardens with age it's difficult to bend it

The man who has a loaf will get a knife to cut it

The one who is out, his share gets cold

Travellers have tales

When you're up, they drink to you

When you're down, they kick you

The person who gains the reputation of getting up early can sleep late

He who is lucky in the morning tends to be luck in the evening too

He who is not strong has to be clever

He who does not get a grip on the job, the job gets a grip on him

Whoever will not accept advice must accept strife

He who does not sympathise with your plight, don't make your complaint to him

The cat purrs to please itself

People live in one another's shadow

A little gathers to a lot

Patience is the best thing for an incurable situation

Everyone to his own tastes

It's the life of a language to speak it

Power will have another day

One year with you, one against you

Observe the river before you venture into its currents

Nature breaks out through the eyes of the cat

Faraway cows have long horns

Truth is often bitter

A little of anything is tasty

The neighbours gruel tastes sweet

Even the whitest flock has a black sheep

The man who has lost the match has permission to talk

There are two sides to every story

Every beginning is weak

There is hope of coming back from the sea but none of coming back from the dead

Like father like son

Mór has a servant girl while she herself is out begging

The lamb becomes a big heavy sheep over distance

I saw you before, as the cat said to the warm milk...

Sense and nonsense - two which do not go together

Put the trout in the net before you put it in the pot

Put silk on a goat, it's still a goat

God helps those who help themselves

The door to wisdom is to ask questions

However bad Séamas is it would be worse to be without him

However long the day, night comes

If it was fine till Halloween someone would be unhappy

Ireland divided is Ireland laid low

Listen to the sound of the river and you will catch a trout

The cows owner must go under her tail

Small shards suit as well as big stones for building walls

The evil deed returns to the evildoer

Every pupil is as he is trained

Thirst is a shameless disease

Two people shorten the road

A wise man accepts advice

It's at the beginning of the disease it is easiest to cure

It's at the beginning of the bag that one must be economical

Rome wasn't built in a day

Tiredness goes away and the benefit remains

Familiarity breeds contempt

Life is strange

A person is alive after being beaten but not after his good name is taken

Sweet to hear is a mouth which is silent

Youth is a fine thing but it does not come twice

Birds of a feather flock together

A shiftless person is the same as a pig

It's hard to put a wise head on young shoulders

It's hard to choose between two evils

Every dog is bold in his own doorway

The crazy man reckons he is the sensible one

It's a long road that has no turning

The trail of a bad deed goes a long way

Better to be idle than up to no good

Arguing is better than loneliness

Health is better than wealth

A little relationship is better than a lot of charity

Better a friend in court than a pound in the purse

Better late than never

Half is better than nothing (literally: decaying)

A fistful of a trade is better than a bagful of gold

Better to have a son mad for sport than mad for drink

Better to ride on a goat than the finest walking

A good run is better than a bad stand

Better to look forward to prison than to the grave

Better one look before you than two behind

It's easy to knead next to the mill

God's help is nearer than the door

Every novelty is great and every commonplace is bitter

The black raven thinks its own offspring is bright

A change of work is as good as a rest

Faraway hills are green

It's the quiet pigs who eat the meal.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating

Life goes through many twists and turns

A nod is enough to the wise

All anyone can do is his best

Every patient is a surgeon after he is cured

It takes very little to cause trouble

Woe to he who checks out what he hopes to be true

Woe to the one who does evil and does not profit by it

A friend's eye is a good mirror

Time will tell

Hunger is a good sauce

The hurler on the ditch is a great fellow

God himself likes a bit of help

A shoulder without a friend is undefended

It's often a person's mouth broke his nose

It's often a slow hound was content

It's often a tailor promised to come and did not

The quiet ones are often guilty

Patience is worth a lot

It's a poor hen won't scratch for itself

It's an ill wind blows nobody any good

The flagstone is slippery at the door of a decent man

Nature is stronger than training

A small burden grows heavier with distance

First a drink, then your news

Sense bought dearly is the best kind

It is the heaviest ear of corn which bows its head lowest

Live horse and you will get hay

The branch lives on the fence but not the hand that planted it

Light heart lives long

Can't live with it, can't live without it

A child wants everything he sees

Praise youth and youth will respond

Don't count your chickens before they are hatched

If you don't sow in Spring you won't reap in Autumn

Even if you have only a puck goat to sell be in the middle of the fair with it

Be it crooked or straight, it's the main road is the shortest way

If you want to be praised, die: if you want to be criticized, marry

If it's bad on the flat it's worse at the summit

Necessity teaches resourcefulness

If you don't learn your trade, it becomes your enemy

When your hand is in the hound's mouth withdraw it gently

When the cat's away the mice dance

When it's tough for the hag she has to run

When the food is scarce it's generous to share it

Mind your own business

Don't procrastinate

Don't make a custom and don't break a custom

Hear both sides before judgement

Words alone won't feed the brothers

Familiarity breeds contempt

No success without discipline

A shy man won't be rich

Nothing lasts for ever

The strong don't prevail for ever

Don't count your fish till it's landed

The world won't make a racehorse out of a donkey

Thinking will not do the ploughing for you

A closed hand gets nothing but a closed fist

No point in talking when the damage is done

It's not a feast without a roast and true suffering comes with marriage

You can't whistle and eat meal at the same time

You can't be two places at once

You can't have it both ways

You want to know me, come live with me

There is no lack so bad as the lack of a friend

The windy day is not the day for thatching

It's not the same thing to go to the king's house and to come out of it

People are not more numerous than opinions

There are not more countries than there are customs

Things aren't always what they seem

You won't fool the fox a second time

There is no strength like co-operation

The goose's beak is no longer than the gander's

Sense does not come before age

Necessity overrides the law

The lake is not heavier for having the duck on it

No place like home

There is no cure for regret but to kill it with patience

There is no herb or cure for death

There is no wise man without a fault nor any fool without a good feature

There is no spirit nor ghost doesn't know his own business

There is no flood, however great, that does not ebb away

There is neither low not high but down for a while and up for a while.

A good word never broke a tooth

The man of courage never lost it

A blessing never filled a belly

Marry a woman from the mountain and you will marry the entire mountain

A crazy man runs through a flood boldly, but it's often a flood swept a crazy man away

A bird flies out of every flock

An eye disregards what it does not see

Silk on Siobhán and her father in rags

Hoping to beats the odds is what ruins the gambler

Give a choice to the churl and it's the worst he will pick

No grace comes singly

Practice makes perfect

Hindsight is a great thing

One story leads on to another

The beginning of health is sleep: the end of health is a sigh

Like understands like

A country without a language is a country without a soul

A good start is half the work