Bits of Celtic wisdom

[DWFII]

I'm not sure of the origins of this..it came from my mothers side of the family (Sweeney) but I've never seen it anywhere else. I have it inscribed on a wooden plaque in my "den."

"A little Health, a little Wealth, a little House and Freedom;
And at the End I'd like a Friend but little cause to Need him."

[Galb]

There are only two things to worry about: Either you are well or you are sick.

If you are well, then there is nothing to worry about. But if you are sick, then there are only two things to worry about: Either you get well or you will die.

If you get well, then there is nothing to worry about. But if you die, then there are only two things to worry about: Either you go up or down.

If you go up, then there is nothing to worry about. But if you go down you will be so busy shaking hands with old friends you won't have time to worry.

[Sionnach]

As you slide down the banister of life
May the splinters never face the wrong way!

[Sionnach]

Here's another-

There are three kinds of men who can't understand women: young men, old men and middle-aged men!

[Piper]

Favorite Irish Toast: "May you be buried in a coffin made of the wood from a 100 year old oak, taken from the tree grown from the acorn that I will plant tomorrow"

[Carolina Kiltman]

Favorite Irish Toast: "May you be buried in a coffin made of the wood from a 100 year old oak, taken from the tree grown from the acorn that I will plant tomorrow"

This jogged my memory of an Irish toast I heard many years ago:

Health and long life to you
Land without rent to you
A child every year to you
And may you die in Ireland!

[fudgeman]

Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.

[Phil]

Here's a couple of my mother's -

"He would argue a black crow was white" - about someone a bit argumentative and "A man on a galloping horse will never notice it" - about someone who doesn't have the highest work standards.

[Phil]

Or how about "like snow aff a dyke" something that disappears very quickly (his family went like snaw aff a dyke) or "couldny run a minoj" somebody totally disorganised ( a "minoj" is a Scottish Christmas savings club (known as a "menage" in posher circles). Or "Never died a winter yet" a philosophical riposte to any depressing news. How about "anither clean shirt'll dae him" about someone who may be "awfy no weel" - a bit under the weather but a bit apocryphal like he won't live long enough for another one. "Gonny no dae that" - please stop doing that, "A fiddler's biddin" - a late invitation to some event where you weren't the first choice.

[Blinki]

From my Mum :

"If he went to a wedding, he'd wait for the christening." in reference to my friends growing up who needed to get home

Sign in her kitchen:

"A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best,
but his mother the longest."

From my Aunt:

"Men are like bagpipes - no sound comes from them until they are full"