21 wonderful Irish proverbs filled with humour, love and wisdom

Ireland is a rugged and beautiful land where even the well-known fairytales about leprechauns’ gold are full of a simple and unpretentious humour. It is inhabited by a wonderful people who do not torture themselves with gloomy questions about the meaning of life — for they know exactly how to live: with honestly, without worrying too much, and most of all by embracing fun.

Here are 22 proverbs handed down through the generations by this wonderful people. They really caught our fancy: All of them are filled with humour, love and wisdom.

• Joyful laughter and sound sleep will cure any illness.
• There are only three kinds of men who don’t understand women: the young, the old, and the middle-aged.
• Woman beauty can’t make a cauldron boil, but it won’t fill up without it.
• May every day of your life together be worse than the next.
• Dying is not so terrible. Not living is terrible.
• Before you get married, open your eyes wide. After the wedding, close them.
• If whiskey can’t cure a disease, then you’ve got no chance.
• We never retreat. We just advance in different directions.
• It’s better to return from the middle of the river to where you started than to sink and drown.
• If cat waits to take the mouse from a mink for long enough, it’s got every chance of success.
• Women can cope even with the devil.
• When God created time, he created enough of it.
• You can tell how much a man earns not by looking at his clothes, but by looking at the clothes of his wife.
• Love at first sight often occurs in the twilight.
• Never boast about the size of your wallet, the beauty of your wife, or the taste of your beer.
• Three things you should never do: throw a stone in the water, give advice to an angry woman, or talk to a fool.
• A smart diplomat always understands when he can send a person to hell or when he needs to prepare himself for the worst.
• Share your love with your wife, and your secrets with your mother.
• If you love her even when she’s dressed in rags, then your love will last until the end of your life.
• It’s better to be a coward for a minute than dead forever.
• Try to slip into heaven half an hour before the devil finds out you’ve died.