Is búaine blad iná seóid.

Is búaine blad iná seóid.

(is * more lasting * fame * than * wealth)

Fame is more lasting than wealth.

This maxim appears as one line in late medieval poem, entitled “Colum Cille and Guaire” in the appendix to “King and Hermit”. The entire stanza in Meyer’s edition is:

Sgáil, a maic Colmáin, do cradh,
is búaine blad iná seóid:
anté da tabair Día ní,
ní maith rí ’s a beth gu neóid.

Modern versions of this saying given in “A Miscellany” are “Fearr clú ná conách” and “Is uaisle onóir ná ór.”

A Middle Welsh proverb in the Red Book of Hergest says similarly:

Trenghit golut, ni threingk molut.
Riches die, fame does not die.

Topics: Maxims & Wise Counsel