Blair Collection > Collection of Gaelic proverbs and familiar phrases

334
Ni òigear leisg bodach brisg.
A lazy youth will make a brisk old man.
M robli còta dubh air cealgaire, no còta dearg air
cladhaire !
No Hack coat cover hyiwcrite, nor red coat a coward!
A toast for Clergy and Army.
Ni sid feum, 'n uair a ni am poca dubh a chaidh leis
an amhainn.
That will he of use, ichen the black bag is that went
with the stream,.
Ni tliu gàire 'n uair a gheabh tliu min.
You'll smile ivhen you get meal.
This is said to be part of a verse composed by John Morrison of
Bragar to his wife, who was somewhat shrewish —
Ni thu gàire 'n uair 'gheibh thu min ;
Is misde do ghean a blii gun bhiadh ;
'Us b' fhearr learn fhein na 'n t-each dearg,
Nach tigeadh fearg ort-sa riamh.
See Proc. of Scot. Soc. of AiiL, Vol. XII., p. 530.
Nigh' a' mhadaidh air a mhàthair.
The dog's ivashing of his dam.
Nighean an droch mhairt, 's ogha 'mhairt mhath.
The daughter of the bad cow, the grand-child of thr
good one.
The meaning probably is, that a good ancestry is more impor-
tant than a good mother.
Nigheanan a' feadaireachd 'us cearcan a' glaodhaich.
Girls whistling and hens crovnng.
Two things considered unnatural. See ' Feadaireachd '.
Nimh gun neart, nimh na cuileig, a bheir fuil air
a' chraicionn.
Pithless poison, the fly s bite, that bleeds but the skin.
The Arabic saying is wiser, ' Despise not a weak man in his
conversation, for the gnat pierces the lion's eye '.
Nitear earn mor de chlachaibh beaga.
A big cairn is made of little stones.
Nollaig an diugh, 's Bealltainn am màireach.
Christmas to-day and May -day to-morrow.
This is the resiilt of an ingenious calculation, showing, e.g., that
if Christmas-day falls on Monday, May-day will be Tuesday. It
is generally, but not absolutely, correct.