*African
Indecision is like a stepchild:
if he doesn't wash his hands, he is called dirty; if he does, he is wasting
the water.
When elephants fight is
the grass that suffers.
*American Indian
Listen or thy tongue will
keep thee deaf.
Never criticize a man until
you've walked a mile in his moccasins.
*Arab
Throw a lucky man into the
sea, and he will come up with a fish in his mouth.
The enemy of my enemy is
my friend.
God sells knowledge for
labour honour for risk.
After dinner, rest a while,
after supper walk a mile.
The sinning is the best
part of repentance.
It is a good thing to speak
the truth: but it is a better thing to know the truth and to talk about
date stones.
*Australian Aboriginal
Those who lose dreaming
are lost.
*Belgian
Experience is the comb that
Nature gives us when we are bald.
*Bosnian
Who lies for you, will lie
against you.
*Canadian Indian
Love Canada or give it back.
*Chinese
A book is like a garden
carried in the pocket.
Make happy those who are
near, and those who are far will come.
People in the West are always
getting ready to live.
Married couples who love
each other tell each other a thousand things without talking.
The palest ink is better
that the best memory.
One dog barks at something,
the rest bark at him.
With time and patience the
mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.
When you have only to pennies
left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
I hear and I forget. I see
and I remember. I do and I understand.
To be uncertain is to be
uncomfortable, but to be certain is to be ridiculous.
If you don't want anyone
to know it, don't do it.
*Colombian
He who must die must die
in the dark, even though he sells candles.
*Congolese
The teeth are smiling, but
is the heart?
*Cree Indian
There is no chance for old
fools.
*Czech
When you buy, use your eyes
and your mind, not your ears.
*Danish
Lawyers and painters can
soon change white to black.
*Dutch
God does not pay weekly,
but he pays at the end.
He who is outside his door
already has a hard part of his journey behind him.
*English
Everyone must row with the
oars he has.
The absent are always wrong.
The shortest answer is doing.
A Scotch mist may wet an
Englishman to the skin.
Danger and delight grow
on one stalk.
We are usually the best
men when in the worst health.
There’ s none so blind as
those who won’t see.
When a proud man hears another
praised, he feels himself injured.
As old as the itch.
A man of words and not deeds,
Is like a garden full of
weeds.
One of these days is none
of these days.
Don’ t fall before you’
re pushed.
There is but an hour a day
between a good house wife and a bad one.
*Ethiopian
When spider webs unite,
they can tie up a lion.
*French
He who can lick can bite.
The price spoils the pleasure.
Everything passes; everything
wears out; everything breaks.
The worst is not always
certain but it’ s very likely.
A good meal ought to begin
with hunger.
*German
It's the whole, not the
detail that matters.
God gives the nuts, but
he does not crack them.
Old birds are hard to pluck.
Whose bread I eat his song
I sing.
Good things are not done
in a hurry.
When the fox preaches, look
to your geese.
Invalids live longest.
The eyes believe themselves;
the ears believe other people.
Who takes the child by the
hand takes the mother by the heart.
Better silent than stupid.
Truth has a handsome countenance
but torn garments.
*Greek
Whatever is good to know
is difficult to learn.
It is easier to talk than
to hold one's tongue.
*Hindu
An arch never sleeps.
If you ask the hungry man
how much is two and two, he replies four loaves.
Fatigue is the best pillow.
There is nothing noble about
being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior
to your previous self.
*Irish
Better be quarrelling than
lonesome.
Every invalid is a physician.
Money swore an oath that
nobody who did not love it should ever have it.
A dimple in the chin; a
devil within.
Trust me, but look to thyself.
*Italian
He that jokes confesses.
Below the navel there is
neither religion nor truth.
Since the house is on fire
let us warm ourselves.
Summer is the mother of
the poor.
If is not true, it is a
happy invention.
*Japanese
The go-between wears out
a thousand sandals.
The crow that mimics a cormorant
gets drowned.
The nail that sticks out
is hammered down.
Fall seven times, stand
up eight.
*Jewish
What you don't see with
your eyes, don't invent with your tongue.
Worries go down better with
soup than without.
Make sure to send a lazy
man for the Angel of Death.
*Korean
Where there are no tigers,
a wild cat is very self-important.
*Latin
By learning you will teach;
by teaching you will learn.
Fortune is fickle and soon
asks back what he has given.
God will be present, whether
asked or not.
*Latvian
A smiling face is half the
meal.
*Malay
Don't think there are no
crocodiles because the water is calm.
*Maltese
Time gives good advice.
*Moroccan
None but a mule deserves
his family.
*Nigerian
When the mouse laughs at
the cat there's a hole nearby.
*Norwegian
Many become brave when brought
to bay.
*Persian
If fortune turns against
you, even jelly breaks your tooth.
He who wants a rose must
respect the thorn.
*Polish
Even were a cook to cook
a fly, he would keep the breast himself.
Fish, to taste right, must
swim there times in water, in butter and in wine.
The greater love is a mother's;
Then comes a dog's; then a sweetheart's.
*Portuguese
Visits always give pleasure
- if not the arrival, the departure.
*Romanian
Flee from still waters.
Better late than never.
*Russian
Don't buy the house, buy
the neighbourhood.
*Scottish
What may be done at any
time will be done at no time.
*Spanish
Don't offer me advice, give
me money.
Tomorrow is often the busiest
day of the year.
*Swedish
When a blind man carries
the lame man, both go forward.
*Turkish
If you speak the truth you
have a foot in the stirrup.
