100 St. Patrick’s Day Quotes for Some Irish Luck
Updated: Mar. 20, 2023
Grab a little of the luck of the Irish for yourself with these St. Patrick's Day quotes, Irish blessings, Irish sayings and good luck quotes
Share these St. Patrick’s Day quotes, sayings and blessings with loved ones
They say there are two kinds of people in the world: the Irish, and those who wish they were. But whatever our heritage, we all get to experience a little Emerald Isle magic on March 17 every year, when we put on our greenest clothing to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (although sadly, not a day off from work, like they have in Ireland—is that why they think everyone wants to be Irish?). During a day full of St. Patrick’s Day traditions like hunting for four-leaf clovers, cooking Irish recipes and watching Irish movies, you may want to share some of these St. Patrick’s Day quotes too.
May these quotes allow you to reflect on the luck you’ve already had and think about making some more. For all other days in the year, these uplifting quotes and funny quotes should do the trick. Cheers! Or as they say in Ireland, sláinte! (That’s pronounced “slahn-chuh,” by the way.)
Get Reader’s Digest’s Read Up newsletter for more quotes, humor, cleaning, travel, tech and fun facts all week long.
St. Patrick’s Day quotes
1. “St. Patrick’s Day is a day to celebrate our green heritage. The ancestry of Ireland. It is a day to celebrate what it means to be Irish and of Irish descent.” —Anthony T. Hicks
2. “Yeah, it’s St. Paddy’s Day. Everyone’s Irish tonight.” —Norman Reedus, The Boondock Saints
3. “For the whole world is Irish on the seventeenth o’ March!” —Thomas Augustine Daly
4. “Whether it’s St. Patrick’s Day or not, everyone has a little luck o’ the Irish in them.” —Laura Sommers
5. “St. Patrick’s Day is an enchanted time—a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer’s magic.” —Adrienne Cook
6. “They say there are only two kinds of people on St. Patrick’s Day: the Irish, and the people that drive them home.” —Conan O’Brien
7. “If you’re Irish, it doesn’t matter where you go—you’ll find family.” —Victoria Smurfit
8. “Be still and know that I am. Be still and know. Be still. Be.” —St. Patrick
9. “Every St. Patrick’s Day, every Irishman goes out to find another Irishman to make a speech to.” —Shane Leslie
10. “Making [St. Patrick’s Day] a great day for the Irish, but just an OK day if you’re looking for a quiet tavern to talk, read or have a white wine spritzer.” —Jon Stewart
11. “That’s what the holidays are for—for one person to tell the stories and another to dispute them. Isn’t that the Irish way?” —Lara Flynn Boyle
12. “Love is never defeated, and I could add, the history of Ireland proves it.” —Pope John Paul II
13. “There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting.” —John Millington Synge
14. “In Ireland, the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs.” —John Pentland Mahaffy
15. “They won’t break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the Irish people, is in my heart.” —Bobby Sands
16. “I see the world through Irish eyes, and they are smiling.” —Denise Morrison
17. “We may have bad weather in Ireland, but the sun shines in the hearts of the people, and that keeps us all warm.” —Marianne Williamson
18. “That’s right, there’s free beer in Irish paradise. Everyone’s jealous.” —Kevin Hearne
19. “Ireland is where strange tales begin and happy endings are possible.” —Charles Haughey
20. “An Irishman can be worried by the consciousness that there is nothing to worry about.” —Austin O’Malley
21. “God invented whiskey to keep the Irish from ruling the world.” —Ed McMahon
22. “The Irish are great talkers and incredibly friendly, it’s just in the DNA.” —Charley Boorman
23. “Ireland, sir, for good or evil, is like no other place under heaven, and no man can touch its sod or breathe its air without becoming better or worse.” —George Bernard Shaw
24. “Even when they have nothing, the Irish emit a kind of happiness, a joy.” —Fiona Shaw
25. “Being Irish is very much a part of who I am. I take it everywhere with me.” —Colin Farrell
By the way, this is how the Chicago River turns green for St. Patrick’s Day.
Irish sayings and proverbs
26. “You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.”
27. “Never iron a four-leaf clover, because you don’t want to press your luck.”
28. “A little fire that warms is better than a big fire that burns.”
29. “There is no luck except where there is discipline.”
30. “There is luck in leisure.”
31. “A best friend is like a four-leaf clover; hard to find and lucky to have.”
32. “Always remember that hindsight is the best insight to foresight.”
33. “He is bad that will not take advice, but he is a thousand times worse that takes every advice.”
34. “The longest road out is the shortest road home.”
35. “May you live to be a hundred years, with one extra year to repent.”
36. “A good word never broke a tooth.”
37. “In our togetherness, castles are built.”
38. “You’ll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind.”
39. “You must crack the nuts before you can eat the kernel.”
40. “Though wisdom is good in the beginning, it is better at the end.”
41. “It is easy to halve the potato where there is love.”
42. “The light heart lives long.”
43. “A friend’s eye is a good mirror.”
44. “The older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune.”
45. “If you dig a grave for others, you might fall into it yourself.”
46. “A man’s mouth often breaks his nose.”
47. “Do not resent growing old, many are denied the privilege.”
48. “It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead the rest of your life.”
49. “Don’t be breaking your shin on a stool that’s not in your way.”
50. “Every man is sociable until a cow invades his garden.”
Need more proverbs? Browse through these proverbs about life from all over the world.
Irish blessings
51. “May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back.”
52. “May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past.”
53. “May the blessings of each day be the blessings you need the most.”
54. “May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night and a smooth road downhill all the way to your door.”
55. “Here’s to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold beer—and another one!”
56. “May the winds of fortune sail you, may you sail a gentle sea. May it always be the other guy who says, ‘This drink’s on me!'”
57. “For each petal on the shamrock, this brings a wish your way: Good health, good luck and happiness for today and every day.”
58. “May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go.”
59. “May the roof above us never fall in. And may the friends gathered below it never fall out.”
60. “May luck be your friend in whatever you do, and may trouble be always a stranger to you.”
61. “May you only grow old in the face. Be treasured and cared for with grace.”
62. “May peace and plenty be the first to lift the latch to your door, and happiness be your guest today and evermore.”
63. “May you always find three welcomes in life: In a garden during summer, at a hearth during winter and in the hearts of friends throughout all your years.”
64. “May your troubles be less. And your blessings be more. And nothing but happiness come through your door.”
65. “May you have all the happiness and luck that life can hold—and at the end of your rainbows may you find a pot of gold.”
66. “May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, may good luck pursue you each morning and night.”
67. “May the lilt of Irish laughter lighten every load.”
68. “May you live as long as you want but never want as long as you live.”
69. “May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.”
70. “As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.”
71. “May you get all your wishes but one, so you always have something to strive for.”
72. “May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, the foresight to know where you are going and the insight to know when you have gone too far.”
73. “May misfortune follow you the rest of your life, and never catch up.”
74. “May the mist of Irish magic shorten every road, and may your friends remember the favors you are owed.”
75. “May you be at the gates of heaven an hour before the devil knows you’re dead!”
Don’t forget to read these positive affirmations that will bring you joy and success.
Good luck quotes
76. “Luck was a mechanism to be devised, and luck and destiny were merely two sides of the same coin.” —Idries Shah
77. “You gotta try your luck at least once a day, because you could be going around lucky all day and not even know it.” —Jimmy Dean
78. “I have noticed that timing and luck sometimes line up in such a way that you can catch a break.” —Ellie Kemper
79. “Luck is believing you’re lucky.” —Tennessee Williams
80. “Nobody gets justice. People only get good luck or bad luck.” —Orson Welles
81. “Good luck has its storms.” —George Lucas
82. “The amount of good luck coming your way depends on your willingness to act.” —Barbara Sher
83. “Don’t throw away luck on little stuff. Save it up.” —Tim O’Brien
84. “I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” —
85. “The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself.” —Douglas MacArthur
86. “Good luck needs no explanation.” —Shirley Temple
87. “Luck? Luck is hard work—and realizing what is opportunity and what isn’t.” —Lucille Ball
88. “Diligence is the mother of good luck.” —Benjamin Franklin
89. “Luck marches with those who give their very best.” —H. Jackson Brown Jr.
90. “Luck affects everything; let your hook always be cast.” —Ovid
91. “Good luck lies in odd numbers.” —William Shakespeare
92. “Some folk want their luck buttered.” —Thomas Hardy
93. “You never can tell whether bad luck may not after all turn out to be good luck.” —Winston Churchill
94. “I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt
95. “Good luck is opportunity meeting preparedness.” —Deepak Chopra
96. “It’s hard to detect good luck—it looks so much like something you’ve earned.” —Frank A. Clark
97. “How is it the great pieces of good luck fall to us?” —William Dean Howells
98. “Luck is largely a matter of paying attention.” —Susan M. Dodd
99. “In the long run, you make your own luck—good, bad or indifferent.” —Loretta Lynn
100. “Be grateful for luck.” —Eubie Blake
Next, scroll through these funny St. Patrick’s Day memes that shamrock.
Additional reporting by Kelly Kuehn.
