Irish culture is celebrated all over the world on St Patrick’s Day.

The national day, which falls on 17 March each year, is a time to show appreciation for Ireland’s rich heritage and traditions.

Usually, revellers don their best green outfits for the many parades and parties - but the 2021 celebrations will be very different once again due to the Covid crisis.

People wear their best green outfits on St Patrick's Day, but the 2021 celebrations will be different due to Covid (Shutterstock)

Despite the pandemic, plenty of people - Irish or not - will still be going all out to mark St Patrick’s Day at home.

Here are the best St Paddy’s Day quotes and sayings to get you in the spirit.

Best St Patrick’s Day quotes

“Be still and know that I am. Be still and know. Be still. Be.” - St Patrick

“May the roof above us never fall in. And may the friends fathered below it never fall out.” - Irish blessing

“Whether it’s St Patrick’s Day or not, everyone has a little luck o’ the Irish in them.” - Laura Sommers

“You can take a man of Ireland, but you can’t take out the Irishness of the man.” - Tyson Fury

“St Patrick’s Day is a day to celebrate our green heritage. The ancestry of Ireland. It is a day to celebrate what it means to be Irish and of Irish descent.” - Anthony T Hicks

“There are only two classes of people—the Irish and those who wish they were Irish.” - Therese Duffy

“St Patrick’s Day is an enchanted time - a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer’s magic.” - Adrienne Cook

“Ireland has always been the home of the dreamer, the poet and the storyteller.” - Jordan Richard

“Being Irish is very much a part of who I am. I take it everywhere with me.” - Colin Farrell

“Ireland is a land of poets and legends, of dreamers and rebels.” - Nora Roberts

“Even when they have nothing, the Irish emit a kind of happiness, a joy.” - Fiona Shaw

“We may have bad weather in Ireland, but the sun shines in the hearts of the people and that keeps us all warm.” - Marianne Williamson

“Yeah, it’s St. Paddy’s Day. Everyone’s Irish tonight.” - Norman Reedus

“The list of Irish saints is past counting; but in it all no other figure is so human, friendly, and lovable as St Patrick.” - Stephen Gwynn

“May you always walk in sunshine. May you never want for more. May Irish angels rest their wings beside your nursery door.” - Susi Hawke

“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

“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

“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

“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

What is St Patrick’s Day?

St Patrick’s day, also known as the Feast of St Patrick, honours Ireland’s patron saint.

Traditionally, the celebration commemorates St Patrick and the crucial role he played in bringing Christianity over to the Emerald isle.

The saint was a fifth century Christian missionary and priest.

It is thought that he was born in Roman Britain, before he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Ireland when he was 16.

He later escaped, but while he was on the island the saint claimed to have “found God”.

This compelled him to return to Ireland years later to convert the Pagan population to Christinaity.

According to legend, the patron saint of Ireland rid the country of snakes by chasing the reptiles into the sea after they started to attack him during a 40-day fast.

But the tale is unlikely, since no evidence of snakes ever existing on the Emerald Isle has been found as they probably couldn’t reach it.

After he died, St Patrick became renowned as a legendary figure and Ireland’s most prominent saint.

St Patrick’s Day is observed by religious branches including the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and the Easter Othodox Church.

It was made an official Christian feast early in the 17th century, before becoming an Irish public holiday in 1903.

The first St Patrick’s Day parade actually took place in America, and not Ireland, on 17 March 1601.

And a century later, homesick Irish soldiers who were serving in the English military marched in New York City to honor their patron saint.

Today’s New York City St Patrick’s Day parade is the largest in the US, with nearly 3 million people lining the streets to watch the procession which takes more than five hours.

St Patrick's Day quotes: 19 best Irish sayings and phrases to celebrate the national day