May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light,
May good luck pursue you each morning and night.
About This Quote
This couplet is commonly circulated as part of a modern “Irish blessing,” a genre of short benedictions associated with Irish and Irish-diaspora social life—especially toasts, farewell wishes, weddings, and St. Patrick’s Day gatherings. Such blessings are typically transmitted orally and through greeting cards, songbooks, and internet quotation collections rather than tied to a single identifiable author or first publication. The imagery reflects everyday hopes for prosperity and ease: “heavy pockets” suggests material sufficiency, while a “light heart” suggests freedom from worry. Because it is presented as a traditional blessing, it is often treated as folk material rather than a fixed literary text.
Interpretation
The blessing pairs two kinds of well-being: external security and internal peace. “Heavy pockets” invokes enough money to meet needs and enjoy life, but it is balanced by “a light heart,” implying that wealth alone is not the goal—contentment and unburdened spirit matter equally. The second line extends the wish from a single moment to daily life (“each morning and night”), personifying luck as something that actively “pursues” the recipient. The overall effect is rhythmic and memorable, designed for communal speaking: a compact, affectionate hope that prosperity will not come at the cost of joy, and that good fortune will be steady rather than sporadic.
Variations
May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light; may good luck pursue you each morning and night.
May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, and may good luck pursue you each morning and night.
May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light; may good luck pursue you morning and night.
