Hello! My name is Sabrina and I am from Germany. I went to Ireland for several times and I have to say that I really fell in love with the country and the people. For memory reasons I would really like a tattoo in Irish Gaelic.

Because there is almost no Irish Gaelic speaker in Germany (at least I don't know one), I found a page that recommended this forum.

I already found a very nice idiom, but it was on a site with Scotish Gaelic idioms. In Scotish Gaelic the idiom is "Cha tèid nì sam bith san dòrn dùinte" what should mean (according to the author of the site): "with a closed fist you can't hold anything". I really love the message of this idiom and so I wanted to asked if you would say that in a similar way in Irish Gaelic or if there is another idiom that has a similar message?

Thanking you in anticipation,

Sabrina

Just letting you know – There's an actual saying in Irish Gaelic that's pretty close to what you're asking for.

Ní bhfaigheann (or Ní fhaigheann) an lámh iata ach an dorn dúnta.
"A closed hand doesn't get [anything] but a shut fist."

It means that people won't be generous to a person who isn't generous. I know this isn't quite what you're asking for, but I just wanted to let you know that there is a similar saying that already exists in Irish Gaelic.

p.s. By the way, I think it's great that your "name" is axolotl – heh, heh

Hallo Sabrina,

There is another saying,

Ní ghabhann dorn dúnta seabhac.
A closed fist doesn't catch a hawk.

and this, which is almost the same as the Scottish saying, is a line from a poem, but I think it may well be an Irish proverb too,

Ní thig ní san dorn dúnta.
Nothing comes to the closed fist.

and although it has nothing to do with your saying. one more just to round it off,

Is minic a gheibheann béal oscailte dorn dúnta.
Often an open mouth gets a closed fist.

Hello!

Thanks for your fast answers! I think your proposals are really similar to the one I looked for and have almost the same message (except the last one but that's very funny ). Now I "just" have to decide which saying is the one that I like the most.

So thank you again!!

p.s.: Thanks for the compliment about my "name". Axolots are really great!