A Toast! ... or Several...

There are silver ships,

There are gold ships,

But there are no ships

Like friendships.

Hope for the best,

Expect the worst;

Life is a play,

And we're all unrehearsed!

May the most you hope for

Be the least you will receive.

May we kiss those we please,

And please those we kiss!

May your right hand always

Be stretched out in friendship

And never in want.

May your neighbors respect you,

Trouble neglect you,

The angels protect you,

And Heaven accept you.

Here's hoping that you live forever,

And mine is the last voice you hear.

May the clouds in your life

Form only a background for

A lovely sunset.

May the Lord make your love

Increase and Overflow

For each other and

For everyone else.

(1 Thess 3:12)

A toast to bread,

For without bread,

There could be no toast.

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as you can.

(John Wesley)

Heavenly Father, bless us

And keep us all alive.

There's ten of us to dinner,

And not enough for five.

I could wish you good health,

I could wish you great wealth;

But your health could fail tomorrow,

And great wealth could bring deep sorrow.

So, I'll simply say, may God bless you!

(Theodore Roosevelt)

May you live as long as you want,

But never want as long as you live.

(Irish Blessing)

May the road rise up to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back,

May the sun shine warm upon you face,

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

(Irish Blessing)

Nothing is nobler or more admirable

Than when two people who see eye to eye

Live together as husband and wife,

Thereby confounding their enemies

And delighting their friends.

(Homer, from The Odyssey)

May your hands be forever clasped in friendship

And your hearts forever joined in love.

May those who love us love us,

And those that don't love us,

May God turn their hearts.

And if He doesn't turn their hearts,

May He turn their ankles,

So we'll know them by their limping.

Here's to beefsteak when you're hungry,

Whiskey when you're dry,

Greenbacks when you're busted,

And Heaven when you die!

May you have the hindsight to know

Where you've been,

The foresight to know

Where you're going,

And the insight to know

When you've gone too far.

May the Lord love us but not call us too soon.

To Life. The first half is ruined by our parents and the second half by our children.

To Mother and Dad on their wedding anniversary:

We never know the love of our parents

For us till we have become parents.

(Henry Ward Beecher)

May we always have more occasion for the cook than for the doctor.

May our house always be too small to hold all our friends. (Myrtle Reed)

Here's champagne to our real friends and real pain to our sham friends.

May you never forget what is worth remembering

or remember what is best forgotten.

Here's to your health! You make age curious, Time furious, and all of us envious.

May blessings be upon your house,

Your roof and hearth and walls;

May there be lights to welcome you

When evening's shadow falls-

The love that like a guiding star

Still signals when you roam;

A book, a friend - these be the things

That make a house a home.

(Myrtle Reed)

To our host,

An excellent man;

For is not a man

Fairly judged by the

Company he keeps?

May the road rise to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back,

the sun shine warm upon your face,

the rain fall soft upon your fields,

and until we meet again

may God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Up wi' yer glasses, an' deil tak the hindmaist!

Here's to those who love us,

And here's to those who don't

A smile for those who are willing to,

And a tear for those who won't.

Some hae meat and cannae eat,
Some would eat that want it.
But we hae meat and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.
(Robert Burns)

Here's to Cheating, Stealing, Fighting, and Drinking.
If you Cheat, may you cheat Death;
If you Steal, may you steal a woman's heart;
If you Fight, may you fight for a brother;
If you Drink, may you drink with me.

'Cheers', translated

Prosit (Austrian, German)

L'chayim, Mazel tov (Hebrew)

A votre sante (French)

Okole maluna (Hawaiian)

Kampai, Banzai (Japanese)

Salud (Spanish)

Slante (Gaelic)

Oogy wawa (Zulu)