Proverbs
Most popular proverbs quotes
Love many, trust few, and always paddle your own canoe.
No one tests the depth of a river with both feet.
Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.
Strife is better than loneliness.
When one will not, two cannot quarrel.
He who strikes the first blow admits he has lost the argument.
Many things are lost for want of not asking.
Better to ask twice than to lose your way once.
One kind word can warm three winter nights.
Better bend than break.
One evening's conversation with a superior man is better than ten years of study.
The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.
If you stop every time a dog barks, your road will never end.
If you act like an ass, don't get insulted if people ride you.
A closed mouth gathers no feet.
Let not your tongue say what your head may pay for.
Even a lion has to defend himself against flies.
A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you roses.
Our faults irritate us most when we see them in others.
Deal with the faults of others as gently as your own.
Many men know how to flatter; few men know how to praise.
If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.
Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you.
Gain does not give as much pleasure as loss gives grief.
We do not walk on our legs, but on our will.
Too much politeness conceals deceit.
What the mother sings to the cradle goes all the way down to the coffin.
Insults should be well-avenged or well-endured.
He understands poorly who listens poorly.
The spider and the fly can't make a bargain.
Hay is more acceptable to an ass than gold.
Better a friendly refusan than an unwilling promise.
Don't shake hands too eagerly.
A silent man is not a conquered man.
The remedy for injuries is not to remember them.
If you live in the river you should make friends with the crocodiles.
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.
A crab does not beget a bird.
You can cage a bird, but you cannot make him sing.
Old birds are hard to pluck.
No need to teach an eagle to fly.
God gives every bird his worm, but he does not throw it into the nest.
A bird is known by his feathers.
A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.
Listen to all, plucking a feather from every passing goose, but, follow no one absolutely.
People live like birds in the woods: When the time comes, each must take flight.
You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.
If you have money, men think you are wise, handsome, and able to sing like a bird.
A chattering bird builds no nest.
Two birds disputed about a kernel, when a third swooped down and carried it off.
Each bird loves to hear himself sing.
A bird does not change its feathers because the weather is bad.
A bird may be known by its flight.
Better ask twice than lose your way once.
You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.
Virtue is its own reward.
The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour.
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.
Life is for one generation; a good name is forever.
Example is better than precept.
No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.
The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.
Write injuries in sand, kindnesses in marble.
Speak the truth, but leave immediately after.
Advice after injury is like medicine after death.
Fine words butter no parsnips.
There is no worse robber than a bad book.
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.
What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over.
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.
The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul.
The way to avoid evil is not by maiming our passions, but by compelling them to yield their vigor to our moral nature.
When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them.
Charity begins at home.
Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.
Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches.
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
Great oaks from little acorns grow.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
With money in your pocket, you are wise and you are handsome and you sing well, too.
Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Walnuts and pears you plant for your heirs.
To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root.
Home is where the heart is.
A father is a banker provided by nature.
Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty.
Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.
Variety is the spice of life.
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
The most beautiful things in the universe are the starry heavens above us and the feeling of duty within us.
Life is so short we must move very slowly.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
If you have no feelings about worldly things, they are all Buddhism; if you have feelings about Buddhism, it is a worldly thing.
A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood.
Only when the cold sets in do you notice the pines and cypresses turning green.
There is but one way to be born but a hundred ways to die.
Knock on the sky and listen to the sound!
A wise man never knows all, only fools know everything.
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.
Life is but a journey; death is returning home.
Be master OF mind rather than mastered BY mind.
One moon shows in every pool; in every pool, the one moon.
The reverse side also has a reverse side.
The patient in spirit is better that the proud in spirit.
If there is light in the soul, There will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, There will be harmony in the house. If there is harmony in the house, There will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, There will be peace in the world.
If you believe everything you read, you better not read.
You, yourself, must make the effort. The Buddhas are only teachers.
There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same.
It is better to be a small stream, than a deep ditch.
One good teacher outweights a ton of books.
If you think too long on your next step, you will end up in life standing on one leg.
To uncover the truth is not difficult, but to follow the truth is formidable.
Vision without action is a daydream. Action with without vision is a nightmare.
The journey is the reward.
Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it's dark.
It's not what you call me, but what I answer to.
Govern your family as you would cook a small fish — very very gently.
Children are a poor man's riches.
Children's mouths speak the truth.
You may find the worst enemy or best friend in yourself.
The man who can't dance thinks the band is no good.
There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience.
Discretion is knowing how to hide that which we cannot remedy.
Everybody has been young before, but not everybody has been old before.
The fireside is the tulip bed of a winter day.
An enemy who tells the truth contributes infinitely more to our improvement than a friend who deludes us.
The best mirror is a friend's eye.
He is not an honest man who has burned his tongue and does not tell the company that the soup is hot.
It's easy to halve the potato where there's love.
Marriage is a covered dish.
Marriage has teeth, and him bite very hot.
Never marry for money. Ye'll borrow it cheaper.
The three most beautiful sights: a potato garden in bloom, a ship in sail, a woman after the birth of her child.
One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.
Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone and more fragile than a rose.
A good example is like a bell that calls many to church.
If you don't want anyone to know, don't do it.
One kind word can warm three winter months.
Swift gratitude is the sweetest.
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.
There are 40 kinds of lunacy, but only one kind of common sense.
Don't approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back or a fool from any side.
Anger is a bad counselor.
Not the fastest horse can catch a word spoken in anger.
Bad news goes about in clogs, good news in stockinged feet.
He who is caught in a lie is not believed when he tells the truth.
When flatterers meet, the devil goes to dinner.
Being virtuous is no feat once temptation ceases.
He who is carried on another's back does not appreciate how far off the town is.
If you get a reputation as an early riser, you can sleep till noon.
Stupidity won't kill you, but it can make you sweat.
Habits are first cobwebs, then cables.
He that would be a leader must be a bridge.
Success is a ladder that cannot be climbed with your hands in your pockets.
Dig the well before you are thirsty.
A good resolution is like an old horse which is often saddled but rarely ridden.
We learn to walk by stumbling.
A stumble may prevent a fall.
Justifying a fault doubles it.
He who is afraid to ask is ashamed of learning.
The work praises the man.
All words are pegs to hang ideas on.
Learn a new language and get a new soul.
A spoken word is not a sparrow. Once it flies out, you can't catch it.
When the mouth stumbles, it is worse than the foot.
Listen, or thy tongue will keep thee deaf.
Two great talkers will not travel far together.
Use soft words and hard arguments.
Get down on your knees and thank God you are on your feet.
Trust in God—but tie your camel tight.
A book, tight shut, is but a block of paper.
Mañana is often the busiest day of the week.
By the streets of "by and by" one arrives at the house of "never."
There are three things that if a man does not know, he cannot live long in this world: what is too much for him, what is too little for him and what is just right for him.
Whatever will satisfy hunger is good food.
He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.
A half truth is a whole lie.
Shared joy is double joy and shared sorrow is half-sorrow.
Time spent laughing is time spent with the gods.
Laughter can be heard farther than weeping.
He who can't endure the bad will not live to see the good.
A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor a man perfected without trials.
Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.
More things grow in the garden than the gardener sows.
When luck enters, give him a seat!
Luck never gives; it only lends.
The important thing in life is not to have a good hand but to play it well.
All sunshine makes a desert.
He that plants trees loves others besides himself.
Money is a good servant but a bad master.
Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back into the same box.
When elephants fight, it's the grass that suffers.
After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box.
Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.
Tell the truth and run.
Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it.
You often meet your fate on the road you take to avoid it.
What soap is for the body, tears are for the soul.
When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
Teachers open doors, but you must enter by yourself.
To understand completely is to forgive completely.
It is honorable to be accused by those who deserve to be accused.
God gave burdens, also shoulders.
A man deeds are his life.
Aiming isn't hitting.
He who waits for a roast duck to fly into his mouth must wait a very, very long time.
Your food is close to your stomach, but you must put it in your mouth first.
When the snake is in the house, one need not discuss the matter of length.
I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.
God gives nothing to those who keep their arms crossed.
He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.
If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. If you don't wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes.
He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack.
When hunger gets inside you, nothing else can.
Give a man a fish and he will live for a day; give him a net, and he will live for a lifetime.
You can't help someone uphill without getting closer to the top yourself.
A beggar has no dignity.
One pound of common sense ten pounds of common sense to apply it.
No one tests the depth of the river with both his feet.
When two men of equal wisdom play together, discord arises.
The one in front has reached there, the one behind only hears about it.
Rivalry is better than envy.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.
Evil deeds are like perfume, difficult to hide.
To die in the flower of age is a life offered in sacrifice.
Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down.
The greatest liar is the one who talks most of himself.
Guile excels strength.
Lies, though many, will be caught by the truth as soon as she rises up.
A multitude of words cloaks a lie.
Truth came to market and could not be sold; we buy lies with ready cash.
One falsehood spoils a thousand truths.
Better a refusal than deception.
Bitter truth is better than sweet falsehood.
Show them death and they will accept the fever.
Better to pay the tavern keeper than the druggist.
In extreme cases marijuana can so destroy a man's character that he mixes freely with persons of another race.
Conceit wouldn't be so terrible if only the right people had it.
For news of the heart, ask the face.
An enemy slaughters, a friend distributes.
A powerful friend becomes a powerful enemy.
An intelligent enemy is better than an ignorant friend.
When the cat dies, the mice rejoice.
Expedients are for the hour, but principles are for the ages.
It is disgraceful to stumble against the same stone twice.
If you are ugly, be winsome.
Deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own.
The fool can no more taste the sweetness of wisdom than the man with cold can appreciate the scent of a rose.
Everyone loves a fool, but nobody wants him for a son.
Gratefulness is the poor man's payment.
One does not become great by claiming greatness.
If You wish to be happy for an hour, get intoxicated. If you wish to be happy for three days, get married If you wish to be happy for eight days, kill your pig and eat it. But If you wish to be happy forever become a gardener.
He who hates, hates himself.
Hate has no medicine.
Don't call a man honest just because he never had the chance to steal.
Thirst cannot be quenched by proxy.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
The opinion of the intelligent is better than the certainty of the ignorant.
The man who is not Jealous in love does not love.
He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool; avoid him. He who knows not and knows that he knows not is a student; teach him. He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep; wake him. He who knows and knows that he knows is a wise man; follow him.
Not to know is bad but not to wish to know is worse.
The speed of the leader is the speed of the pack.
The thoughtless strong man is the chief among lazy men.
Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins.
You're not as young as you used to be but you're not as old as you're going to be.
We grow too soon old and too late smart.
When a fool has made up his mind, the market has gone by.
The tyrant is only the slave turned inside out.
To believe a thing impossible is to make it so.
A soft answer turneth away wrath.
Whoever spurns what is short has not trodden on a scorpion.
Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker.
Poverty makes a free man become a slave.
Borrowing is the first-born of poverty.
Poverty is "Who knows you?" Prosperity is "I am your relative."
Work is the medicine for poverty.
Poverty without debt is real wealth.
One has only to die to be praised.
Going slowly does not stop one from arriving.
The white man lives in the castle; when he dies he lives in the ground.
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold.
A heavy burden does not kill on the day it is carried.
If thine enemy wrong thee, buy each of his children a drum.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Silence is also speech.
Silence is the door of consent.
Nothing is achieved in a dream.
Sleep, the near relative of death.
Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.
He who tells the truth is not we liked.
What you have put into the kettle comes afterwards into your spoon.
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
You must scale the mountain if you would view the plain.
What's the use of running if you're not on the right road?
His wealth is superior to him.
Poverty is "Who knows you?"; Prosperity is "I am your relative."
Those who inherit fortunes are often more troublesome than those who make them.
Youth is wasted on the young.
Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
The turtle lays thousands of eggs without anyone knowing, but when the hen lays an egg, the whole country is informed.
Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It is lent to you by your children.
The gums best understand the teeth's affairs.
Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.
You are permitted in time of great danger to walk with the devil until you have crossed the bridge.
Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your friend's forehead.
One survives all wounds except those of critics.
Instruction in youth is like engraving in stone.
The stream won't be advised, therefore its course is crooked.
A knot in the tree spoils the ax; famine spoils friendship.
A powerful friend becomes at powerful enemy.
He who is afraid of doing too much always does too little.
News does not have wings, yet it can cross the seven seas.
Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.
Words do not make flour.
Learn politeness from the impolite.
A man without a wife is like a vase without flowers.
Marriage is the only war where one sleeps with the enemy.
If thine enemy wrongs thee, buy each of his children a drum.
Better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.
The fish sees the bait, not the hook.
He who does not look ahead remains behind.
He who does not travel will not know the value of men.
A war without headquarters is an expedition.
Self-defense is not fear.
War ends nothing.
There are many rare abilities in the world which Fortune never brings to light.
Absence and a friendly neighbor washes away love.
Action is the proper fruit of knowledge.
Keen adversity is the best crucible in which to try a man's integrity.
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
Affection is a bad advisor.
For the unlearned, old age is winter; for the learned, it is the season of harvest.
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.
Ambition is putting a ladder against the sky.
The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.
Mules are always boasting that their ancestors are horses.
A man who cannot get angry is like a stream that cannot overflow, that is always turbid. Sometimes indignation is as good as a thunder-storm in summer, clearing and cooling the air.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
Judge nothing by the appearance. The more beautiful the serpent, the more fatal its sting.
A correct answer is like an affectionate kiss.
The shortest answer is doing.
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.
All that glitters is not gold.
Riches rather enlarge than satisfy appetites.
You cannot compare apples and oranges.
One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel.
The apple does not fall far from the tree.
Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.
There is no harm in asking.
He who asks questions cannot avoid the answers.
Never ask of him who has, but of him who wishes you well.
A babe is nothing but a bundle of possibilities.
Beauty may be said to be God's trademark in creation.
Beauty without virtue is a flower without a sword.
A book is good company. It is full of conversation without loquacity. It comes to your longing with full instruction, but pursues you never.
A good book is the best of friends, the same to-day and for ever.
Boys have a period of mischief as much as they have measles or chicken-pox.
The dog may be wonderful prose, but only the cat is poetry.
Charity covers a multitude of sins.
Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love.
When a nation's young men are conservatives, its funeral bell is already rung.
Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.
The Stones that Critics hurl with Harsh Intent A Man may use to build His Monument.
He who has daughters is always a shepherd.
It is defeat that turns bone to flint, gristle to muscle, and makes men invincible.
Defeat is a school in which truth always grows strong.
Difficulties are God's errands. And when we are sent upon them we should esteem it as a proof of God's confidence—as a compliment from God.
Divorce is the sacrament of adultery.
The dog was created specially for children. He is the god of frolic.
Praises from an enemy imply real merit.
If we are bound to forgive an enemy, we are not bound to trust him.
If your enemy turns to flee, give him a silver bridge.
There is no little enemy.
Be thine enemy an ant, see in him an elephant.
There is a limit to enjoyment, though the sources of wealth be boundless; And the choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation.
In things pertaining to enthusiasm, no man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions.
Envy shooteth at others and woundeth herself.
If envy were a fever, all the world would be ill.
When all men praised the peacock for his tail, the birds cried out, "Look at his legs! And what a voice!"
Error is always in Haste.
Admitting Error clears the Score And proves you Wiser than before.
Error is a hardy plant: it flourisheth in every soil.
A good example is the best sermon.
Example is an eloquent orator.
The crab instructs its young, "Walk straight ahead—like me."
You have to dig deep to bury your daddy.
Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.
Mountains of gold would not seduce some men, yet flattery would break them down.
A flattering mouth worketh ruin.
As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
What use is wisdom when folly reigns?
The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness.
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.
A Fool's Tongue is long enough to cut his own Throat.
Zeal is fit only for wise men, but is found mostly in fools.
The forest is the poor man's overcoat.
Manners and Money make a Gentleman.
If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart.
Fetters of gold are still fetters, and silken cords pinch.
I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
Gossip needs no carriage.
Gratitude is the heart's memory.
Patch grief with proverbs.
Fish and guests smell at three days old.
Human happiness consists in having what you want, and wanting what you have.
We are happy in this world just in proportion as we make others happy.
Hunting after happiness is like hunting after a lost sheep in the wilderness, when you find it, the chances are that it is a skeleton.
Sickness is felt, but health not at all.
Hollywood is a sewer with service from the Ritz Carlton.
If it were not for hopes, the heart would break.
You cannot reason with a hungry belly; it has no ears.
An idea launched like a javelin in proverbial form strikes with sharper point on the hearer's mind and leaves implanted barbs for meditation.
Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action.
In the midst of your illness you will promise a goat, but when you have recovered, a chicken will seem sufficient.
Sickness comes on horseback and departs on foot.
The soul without imagination is what an observatory would be without a telescope.
There is nothing more fearful than imagination without taste.
The cat always catches the impatient mouse.
Impatience is incurable.
From fame to infamy is a beaten road.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Journalism is the first rough draft of history.
The test of Christian character should be that a man is a joy-bearing agent to the world.
Justice, like vengeance, is not good eaten cold.
The rich never want for kindred.
Kneeling with others can be an uplifting experience.
Many men are stored full of unused knowledge. Like loaded guns that are never fired off, or military magazines in times of peace, they are stuffed with useless ammunition.
Laughter is God's hand on a troubled world.
Liberty is the soul's right to breathe, and, when it cannot take a long breath, laws are girdled too tight.
It usually takes a hundred years to make a law, and then, after it has done its work, it usually takes a hundred years to get rid of it.
Riches without law are more dangerous than in poverty without law.
If speaking is silver, then listening is gold.
At the gate which suspicion enters, love goes out.
True love is friendship set on fire.
Well-married, a man is winged; ill-matched, he is shackled.
Misfortunes tell us what fortune is.
Rich men feel misfortunes that fly over poor men's heads.
Misfortunes when asleep are not to be awakened.
There is a limit to enjoyment, though the sources of wealth be boundless, And the choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation.
If you make money your god, it will plague you like the devil.
There is no slave out of heaven like a loving woman; and of all loving women, there is no such slave as a mother.
An ounce of mother is worth a ton of clergy.
God could not be everywhere, so he made mothers.
A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner.
News is the first rough draft of history.
Opportunity never knocks twice.
Opportunities, like eggs, come one at a time.
Every path has its puddle.
Patience and the mulberry leaf become a silk gown.
Patience caught the nimble hare.
Accepting praise that is not our due is not much better than to be a receiver of stolen goods.
It is not well for a man to pray cream and live skim milk.
Prosperity has damned more Souls than all the Devils together.
A proverb is much matter decocted into few words.
You are right to listen to proverbs. They are short sayings made out of long experience.
Proverbs are always platitudes until you have personally experienced the truth of them.
A proverb is anonymous human history compressed to the size of a seed.
A proverb is one man's wit and all men's wisdom.
The proverb is the horse of conversation.
The great advantage of a proverb in argument is that it is supposed to be incontrovertible, as embodying the quintessential sagacity of our ancestors. But when once you have realized that proverbs go in pairs which say opposite things you can never again be downed by a proverb; you merely quote the opposite.
The proverb answers where the sermon fails, as a well-charged pistol will do more execution than a whole barrel of gunpowder idly expended in the air.
Religion is the best Armor in the World, but the worst Cloak.
Reputation is commonly measur'd by the Acre.
Living well is the best revenge.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
There is a benevolence in all wise selfishness.
Men go shopping just as men go out fishing or hunting, to see how large a fish may be caught with the smallest hook.
Two in distress make sorrow less.
Great sorrows are silent.
When you shoot an arrow of truth, dip its point in honey.
The tears of strangers are only water.
As soap is to the body, tears are to the soul.
Temptations are enemies outside the castle seeking entrance.
Of all man's works of art, a cathedral is greatest. A vast and majestic tree is greater than that.
Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you.
Never meet trouble half-way.
He who would speak the truth must first have one foot in the stirrup.
There is nothing which vanity does not desecrate.
Vice would be frightful if it did not wear a mask.
Vice often rides triumphant in virtue's chariot.
Virtue's paths are first rugged, then pleasant.
A man without a vote in this land is like a man without a hand.
Wine is a turncoat; first a friend, then an enemy.
In wine, there is truth.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
Work is not the curse, but drudgery is.
Don't meet troubles half-way.
Worries go down better with soup than without.
The sins of youth are paid for in old age.
Zeal without knowledge is fire without light.
Affectation is a greater enemy to the face than smallpox.
Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.
Since the house is on fire let us warm ourselves.
Those who wish to sing, always find a song.
To everyone is given the key to heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell.
The rose has thorns only for those who would gather it.
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.
Everyone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven.
Repentance won't cure mischief.
A tune is more lasting than the song of the birds, And a word more lasting than the wealth of the world.
Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go, Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child works hard for its living, And a child that's born on the Sabbath day Is fair and wise and good and gay.
Everyone who is successful must have dreamed of something.
Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement.
When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled on.
A person consists of his faith. Whatever is his faith, even so is he.
A person who misses a chance and the monkey who misses its branch can't be saved.
A smile you sent, will always return.
Anger ends in cruelty.
Blaming your faults on your nature does not change the nature of your faults. Conquer a man who never gives by gifts; Subdue untruthful men by truthfulness; Vanquish an angry man by gentleness; And overcome the evil man by goodness.
Do not blame God for having created the tiger, but thank him for not having given it wings.
Don't bargain for fish which are still in the water.
Don't let grass grow on the path of friendship.
Even a cat is a lion in her own lair.
Fate and self-help share equally in shaping our destiny.
For the friendship of two, the patience of one is required.
Great anger is more destructive than the sword.
I had no shoes and complained, until I met a man who had no feet.
If you're going to live by the river, make friends with the crocodile.
Keep five yards from a carriage, ten yards from a horse, and a hundred yards from an elephant; but the distance one should keep from a wicked man cannot be measured.
Large desire is endless poverty.
Life is not a continuum of pleasant choices, but of inevitable problems that call for strength, determination, and hard work.
Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf.
No one was ever lost on a straight road.
Nonviolence is the supreme law of life.
Separation secures manifest friendship.
The way to overcome the angry man is with gentleness, the evil man with goodness, the miser with generosity and the liar with truth.
These can never be true friends: Hope, dice, a prostitute, a robber, a cheat, a goldsmith, a monkey, a doctor, a distiller.
To the mediocre, mediocrity appears great.
To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak.
When the devil leaves, heaven comes in.
When we take one step toward to God, he takes seven steps toward us.
You can never enter the same river twice.
You can often find in rivers what you cannot find in oceans.
You can only lean against that which resists.
When the cat's away the mice will play.
While there's life there's hope.
Why keep a dog and bark yourself?
Work expands so as to fill the time available.
You are never too old to learn.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
You can't tell a book by looking at its cover.
A tree that affords thee shade, do not order it to be cut down.
He who keeps the hills, burns the wood; he who keeps the streams drinks the water.
He who thinks everything must be in bloom when the strawberries are in bloom doesn't know anything about apples.
Nothing that is natural is disgraceful.
Pray to God for a good harvest, but don't stop hoeing.
Ride the tributaries to reach the sea.
Talk to your children while they are eating; what you say will stay even after you are gone.
Diligence is the greatest of teachers.
God is with those who patiently persevere.
Without perseverance talent is a barren bed.
A man without religion is like a horse without a bridle.
If triangles had a God, He'd have three sides.
He who does not travel does not know the value of men.
No gain is so certain as that which proceeds from the economical use of what you already have.
A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study.
Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped.
Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours.
God is good, but never dance in a small boat.
Think of your faults the first part of the night when you are awake, and the faults of others the latter part of the night when you are asleep.
To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.
When you throw dirt, you lose ground.
