Is fearr beagán den ghaol ná mórán den charthanas.

A little kinship is better than a lot of charity.

Note: Charles Dickens wrote, "But charity begins at home, and justice begins next door"(Martin Chuzzelwit 1850). John Ray wrote down the English proverb equivalent to this seanfhocal in his opus English Proverbs (1670), "Blood is thicker than water." John Wycliffe in his 1380 work Of Prelates ascribes to Theocritus the proverb "Charity begins at home."

Perhaps this seanfhocal came from Saint Patricks' bringing the Bible to the Irish. In Paul's First Epistle to Timothy he says,

"Ach má tá clann nó clann chlainne ag baintreach, tuigidís sin gurb é céad dualgas atá orthu cuidiú lena dteaghlach féin agus cúiteamh a dhéanamh lena dtuismitheoirí, mar gurb áil le Dia é sin." (If a widow has any children or grandchildren, let these learn that piety begins at home and that they should fittingly support their parents and grandparents; this is the way God wants it to be.) Tiomóid, 5:4.

Paul goes to warn

"an duine nach ndéanann aon chúram dá mhuintir agus do lucht a theaghlaigh féin go háirithe, tá an creideamh séanta aige agus is measa é ná an díchreidmheach. (If anyone does not provide for his own relatives and especially for members of his immediate family; he has denied the faith; he is worse than an unbeliever.) Tiomóid, 5:8.

Maybe Timothy brought this idea directly to the ancient Irish. Timothy ministered to the Ephesians. Ephesus was a city on the Aegean coast of modern Turkey. It was at the edge of an ancient Celtic community centered around what is now the city of Ankara.