№ 01 Ireland
Praise the Day at Evening
Mol an lá um thráthnóna
mul an law um hraw-nuh-na
An Irish proverb forbids praising a day before it's over — a rule a Norse god, a Greek sage, and a Lydian king all learned, each at a different cost.
Parallel & Proverbs
A weekly literary miscellany
Read by the tongue
Irish
1 Irish proverb read closely — filed under Vigilance and Time; set beside cousins in Old Norse and Ancient Greek.
Irish proverbs, at a glance
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Don't praise a day until it's over.
Mol an lá um thráthnóna
Mul an law um HRAW-nuh-na
Literally: Praise the day at evening
Irish · Ireland
Set beside
- Old Norse — Hávamál stanza 81; the same image at a colder, more cataloguing pitch — day, weapon, bride, ice, ale, all judged only after the test
- Ancient Greek — Solon to Croesus via Herodotus; a king's version of the same warning, stretched from one day to an entire life