Wretched estate of men by fortune blest,
That being ever idle never rest.
Saint Patrick's Day Quotes
No Irish collection sits under this page. It comes from two others, luck and friendship, which is about as close as a mechanical match can get to a day of toasts. The luck page leans on Seneca, Livy and Shakespeare, and on Horace’s complaint about Fortune, so expect fortune in the Roman sense rather than the four-leaf kind.
Two of its entries, from Torquato Tasso, are flagged misattributed. If you want an Irish writer, use the search box. Wilde and Shaw are both on the site.
Most quoted on saint patrick's day:
He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him.
The wheel of Fortune tourneth as a ball;
Sodeyn clymbyng axeth a sodeyn fall.
Fortunes made buying and selling securities have underwritten economic revolutions.
True friendship's laws are by this rule express'd,
Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest.