100 St. Patrick’s Day Quotes to Channel the Luck of the Irish

Jessica Sager

March 17, 2024 at 9:12 PM·15 min read

St. Patrick's Day Quotes

St. Patrick's Day is officially here! Whether or not you're Irish, it's hard not to love March 17 each year: The green is a welcome change from the dreariness of long winters, the cheer is infectious and the chance at good luck and seeing rainbows can make anyone feel festive. (OK, yeah, and the corned beef, cabbage, soda bread and green beer are great too.) These St. Patrick's Day quotes and Irish sayings will get you in the spirit to celebrate snakes leaving Ireland! And don't forget Irish blessings as well.

Related: 50 Best St. Patrick's Day Wishes To Toast Your Friends and Family

St. Patrick's Day Quotes

1. "Everybody is Irish on St. Patrick's Day, but if your name is Eisenhower, you've got to wear something green to show it." —Dwight D. Eisenhower

2. "Top of the morning to ye!"

3. "Slainte!"

4. "May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go."

5. "Whether it's St. Patrick's Day or not, everyone has a little luck o' the Irish in them." —Laura Sommers

6. "Wherever you go and whatever you do, may the luck of the Irish be there with you."

7. "Never iron a four-leaf clover, because you don't want to press your luck."

8. "Here's to good Irish friends—never above you, never below you, always beside you."

9. "May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you."

10. "There are only two classes of people—the Irish and those who wish they were Irish." —Therese Duffy

Related: 20+ Family-Friendly Activities To Get Your Teaghlach Into the Spirit of St. Patrick’s Day

11. "One thought of the shamrock makes the whole world akin."

12. "There's the joy of ole' Killarney, in these wishes meant for you; There's a bit of Irish blarney, and a touch of magic too. There's a wish of lots of laughter, and good luck, be sure o' that; And a wish that all your dreams may come true in no time flat."

13. "St. Paddy's Day is our celebration day for Ireland's favorite saint who both saved us from the snakes, and gave us our own day to celebrate our Irish heritage." —Paddy O'Furniture

14. "Saint Patrick was a gentleman, who through strategy and stealth, drove all the snakes from Ireland, here's a toast to his health. But not too many toasts, lest you lose yourself and then forget the good Saint Patrick and see all those snakes again."

15. "Here is the enigma of Patrick: he looms large on the imaginative horizon of so many people, yet he saw himself as a Christian bishop from the embattled edge of a crumbling empire." —Thomas O'Loughlin

16. "Being Irish is very much a part of who I am. I take it everywhere with me." —Colin Farrell

17. "There is no luck except where there is discipline."

18. "There is luck in leisure."

19. "Luck is believing you're lucky." —Tennessee Williams

20. "Even when they have nothing, the Irish emit a kind of happiness, a joy." —Fiona Shaw

Related: Get Lucky With 100 Festive St. Patrick’s Day Instagram Captions

21. "Ireland is a land of poets and legends, of dreamers and rebels." —Nora Roberts

22. "It's St. Paddy's Day, everyone's Irish tonight. Why don't you just pull up a stool and have a drink with us?" —Norman Reedus (as Murphy MacManus) in The Boondock Saints

23. "Bless your little Irish heart and every other Irish part."

24. "The amount of good luck coming your way depends on your willingness to act." —Barbara Sher

25. "I will tell you, my body immediately responds to being in Ireland because every single cell in my body says yes." —Conan O'Brien

26. "In Ireland, you go to someone's house, and she asks you if you want a cup of tea. You say no, thank you, you're really just fine. She asks if you're sure. You say of course you're sure, really, you don't need a thing. Except they pronounce it ting. You don't need a ting. Well, she says then, I was going to get myself some anyway, so it would be no trouble. Ah, you say, well, if you were going to get yourself some, I wouldn't mind a spot of tea, at that, so long as it's no trouble and I can give you a hand in the kitchen. Then you go through the whole thing all over again until you both end up in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting. In America, someone asks you if you want a cup of tea, you say no, and then you don't get any damned tea. I liked the Irish way better." —C.E. Murphy

27. "May the blessings of each day be the blessings you need the most."

28. "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy." —William Butler Yeats

29. "Imagine if we were all magical leprechauns, and every wish ever made on a four-leaf clover obliged us to help others obtain their wishes. Now imagine if people simply lived like this were true." —Richelle E. Goodrich

30. "I'm Irish!...When I feel well I feel better than anyone, when I am in pain I yell at the top of my lungs, and when I am dead I shall be deader than anybody." —Morgan Llywelyn

Related: Wait, There’s No Such Thing as a Leprechaun...Is There?

Related: 100 Funny St. Patrick's Day Jokes

31. "I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." —Thomas Jefferson

32. "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

33. "Ireland has always been the home of the dreamer, the poet and the storyteller." —Jordan Richard

34. "Do you think anybody knows that I'm Irish?" —Niall Horan

35. "Thankfully the rest of the world assumed that the Irish were crazy, a theory that the Irish themselves did nothing to debunk. They had somehow got it into their heads that each fairy lugged around a pot of gold with him wherever he went. While it was true that LEP had a ransom fund, because of its officers' high-risk occupation, no human had ever taken a chunk of it yet. This didn't stop the Irish population in general from skulking around rainbows, hoping to win the supernatural lottery." —Eoin Colfer

36. "May luck be your friend in whatever you do, and may trouble be always a stranger to you."

37. "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."

38. "That’s what the prom is—St. Patrick’s Day for the young." —Tim Tharp

39. "I think being a woman is like being Irish... Everyone says you're important and nice, but you take second place all the time." —Iris Murdoch

40. "Be sure to wear green on March seventeen, or else Irish leprechauns pinch your bones clean!" —Richelle E. Goodrich

Related: Is It 'St. Patty’s Day' or 'St. Paddy’s Day'? Here’s the True Irish Way To Shorten St. Patrick’s Day

Related: St. Patrick’s Day Trivia Time: 30 Fascinating Facts About St. Patty’s Day That Make Wearing Green Even More Fun

41. "Leprechauns were once fierce warriors who protected the coast from marauders and defended the land. Then Christianity showed up and decided to do away with all that, and they downplayed the heroic actions of those warriors to the extent that we see them as the iconic little guys with pots of gold today. Nothing quite like a group of gossiping Christians to turn the tide on historical events, huh?" —Paula Millhouse

42. "There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting." —John Millington Synge

43. "Shamrocks and roses in an evergreen flock, now up to your noses turning into a high stock!" —Ana Claudia Antunes

44. "On St. Patrick's Day, the traditional Irish family would rise early and find a solitary sprig of shamrock to put on their somber Sunday best. Then they'd spend the morning in church listening to sermons about how thankful they should be that St. Patrick saved such a bunch of ungrateful sinners. Nobody wore green clothing as it was considered an unlucky color not suitable for church." —Rashers Tierney

45. "You don’t believe in magic spells or longings coming true. Yet, head-to-toe you dress in green on Patty’s Day, you do." —Richelle E. Goodrich

46. "The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper." —William Butler Yeats

47. "Few Americans have heard of Wales. All of them have heard of Ireland and many of them think they are Irish." —Peter Hitchens

48. "May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back."

49. "When anyone asks me about the Irish character, I say look at the trees. Maimed, stark and misshapen, but ferociously tenacious." —Edna O'Brien

50. "When you make a wee wish on a green four-leafed clover, may your belly stay full and your cup runneth over." —Richelle E. Goodrich

51. "A best friend is like a four-leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have."

52. "Legend says that each leaf of the clover has a meaning: the first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and, if you can find a 4-leaf clover, the fourth leaf represents luck." —Jean LeGrand

53. "We survive. We're Irish. We have the souls of poets. We love our misery, we delight in the beauty of strange places and dark places in our hearts." —Ellis Flynn

54. "May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past."

55. "St. Patrick had only got rid of the land snakes according to Nolan’s mother, but he had no power over the huge snakes calling themselves eels which came in on beaches all over the country." —Maeve Binchy

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

57. "The Irish have gained a reputation over the centuries for being very warm, kind and hospitable people (though sometimes a bit too fond of the drink!). These characteristics are most in evidence at St. Patrick's Day, March 17th every year, when people of Irish descent organize parades and parties." —Shannon Ferrell

58. "If he laid on the Irish any thicker, she’d be drowning in shamrocks." —Nallini Singh

59. "I've always thought you've got to believe in luck to get it." —Victoria Holt

60. "May everything turn green today, except your gills!" —Lester B. Dill

61. "May you always walk in sunshine. May you never want for more. May Irish angels rest their wings beside your nursery door." —Susi Hawke

62. "We are all a great deal luckier than we realize, we usually get what we want—or near enough." —Roald Dahl

63. "It’s simply this: the Irish kiss, a snog o’ bliss, be blessed luck from any miss." —Richelle E. Goodrich

64. "Ireland has one of the world’s heaviest rainfalls. If you see an Irishman with a tan, it’s rust."

65. "Luck is not chance, it's toil. Fortune’s expensive smile is earned." —Emily Dickinson

66. "You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from." —Cormac McCarthy

67. "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!'"

68. "Health and a long life to you. Land without rent to you. A child every year to you. And if you can't go to heaven, may you at least die in Ireland."

69. "The Irish celebrate St. Patrick's Day in gratitude for the service which he did them in bringing to the Irish their most priceless possession—the gift of faith." —Therese Duffy

70. "May the leprechauns dance over your bed and bring you sweet dreams."

71. "May the luck of the Irish lead to happiest heights and the highway you travel be lined with green lights."

72. "May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks. May your heart be as light as a song. May each day bring you bright happy hours, that stay with you all year long."

73. "I’ve always believed in luck. I love the fact that people can change their lives instantly." —Fiona Barton

74. "A wish for a kiss on St. Patrick’s Day! Catch a leprechaun but don’t let him run. Nay, kiss him right away!" —Richelle E. Goodrich

75. "It's not that the Irish are cynical. It's rather that they have a wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody." —Brendan Behan

76. "What is Irish diplomacy? It's the ability to tell a man to go to Hell so that he will look forward to making the trip."

77. "It's an Irish story, love...We don't do happy endings." —Kersten Hamilton

78. "When it comes to luck, you make your own." —Bruce Springsteen

79. "To anyone with a drop of Irish blood in them the land they live on is like their mother. It's the only thing that lasts, that's worth working for, worth fighting for." —Alexandra Ripley

80. "An old Irish recipe for longevity: Leave the table hungry. Leave the bed sleepy. Leave the bar thirsty."

81. "For each petal on the shamrock, this brings a wish your way: Good health, good luck, and happiness for today and every day."

82. "May the enemies of Ireland never meet a friend."

83. "The reason the Irish are always fighting each other is they have no other worthy opponents."

84. "You’ve got to think lucky. If you fall into a mud hole, check your back pocket. You might have caught a fish." —Darrell Royal

85. "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

86. "As I write this, St. Patrick’s Day is in full bore in Midtown. It’s delightful how celebrating a heritage requires you to pick fights with strangers and then pee in a parking garage." —Greg Gutfeld

87. "Long live the Irish, long live their cheer. Long live our friendship, year after year."

88. "It is St Patrick's Day and here at Scranton, that is a huge deal... It is the closest that the Irish will ever get to Christmas." —Steve Carell (as Michael Scott) in The Office

89. "Corned beef and cabbage and leprechaun men, colorful rainbows hide gold at their end. Shamrocks and clovers with three leaves plus one, dress up in green—add a top hat for fun. Steal a quick kiss from the lasses in red, a tin whistle tune off the top of my head. Friends, raise a goblet and offer this toast—'The luck of the Irish and health to our host!'" —Richelle E. Goodrich

90. "There's no sense to being Irish unless you know the world's going to break your heart." —Thomas Adcock

91. "Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat." —Alex Levine

92. "Pride should be reserved for something you achieve or obtain on your own, not something that happens by accident of birth. Being Irish isn't a skill... it's a f**king genetic accident. You wouldn't say I'm proud to be 5'11"; I'm proud to have a predisposition for colon cancer." —George Carlin

Related: 35 St. Patrick’s Day Nail Ideas To Get You in the Irish Spirit

93. "To be Irish is to know that in the end, the world will break your heart." —Daniel Patrick Moynihan

94. "Part of our Irish heritage is artfully combining fine food, drinks, music and conversation on this blessed day to make good times. And showing that our Irish hearts are open and loving, anyone can be Irish on St. Paddy's day." —Paddy O'Furniture

95. "Lord, you're Irish...Can you make things that don't have potatoes in them? We had an Irish cook once when I was a boy. Potato pie, potato custard, potatoes with potato sauce." —Cassandra Clare

96. "The heart of an Irishman is nothing but his imagination." —George Bernard Shaw

97. "If you work, if you wait, you will find the place where the four-leaf clovers grow." —Ella Higginson

98. "Slave, bishop and saint—it’s fair to say that the man we call Patrick had an unusual life." —Marian Broderick

99. "That’s right, there’s free beer in Irish paradise. Everyone’s jealous." —Kevin Hearne

100. "Love is never defeated, and I could add, the history of Ireland proves it." —Pope John Paul II

Next, check out these hilarious St. Patrick's Day memes!

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100 St. Patrick’s Day Quotes to Channel the Luck of the Irish

St. Patrick's Day Quotes