Proverbial Wisdom

4/22/2024

I don’t know how I got into thinking and writing about wisdom. I guess it all began with my desire as a youth to become the best person I could be, and that most likely manifested itself as a lifelong pilgrimage to wisdom. Even as a college literature teacher, I found my favorite job was being a student advisor, which generally meant trying to get to know each student’s talents and inclinations and helping them manifest the former and grow into the latter. In any case, I ended up writing or co-writing five books on the topic of popular wisdom. You can learn about them at my website, www.reynoldruslan.com, and most are still available at amazon.com. So today I plan to do something a bit different, namely, to share a selection of proverbs from the thousand in my first book on the subject, A World Treasury of Folk Wisdom, co-authored with Cynthia Voelke and published by Harper-Collins in 1992. Enjoy!

On Advice: Teeth placed before the tongue give good advice. (Italian)
On Anger: If you kick a stone in anger, you’ll hurt your own foot. (Korean)
On Appearance and Reality: A person who is always nice isn’t always nice. (Polish)
On Appropriateness: When the music changes, so does the dance. (Hausa-West African)
On Attitude: To be willing is to be able. (French)
On Authenticity: Cows have no business in horseplay. (Jamaican)
On Basic Truths: You cannot see the whole sky through a bamboo tube. (Japanese)
On Books and Writers: Beware the person of one book. (Latin)
On Business: The gods sell all things to hard labor. (Greek)
On Caution and Care: Measure a thousand times, cut once. (Turkish)
On Common Sense: Don’t jump high in a low-ceilinged room. (Czech)
On Conduct of Life: One should speak little with others and much to oneself. (Danish)
On Courtesy and Respect: When you go to a donkey’s house, don’t talk about ears. (Jamaican)
On Criticism: Don’t call the alligator big-mouth till you’ve crossed the river. (Belizean)
On Differences: Every head is a world. (Cuban)
On Discretion: Silence is sometimes the answer. (Estonian)
On Education: The one who teaches is the giver of eyes. (Tamil-Asian Indian)
On Eloquence: There is nothing so eloquent as a rattlesnake’s tail. (Apache-Native American)
On Experience: The person with burnt fingers asks for tongs. (Samoan)
On Flattery and Praise: Chickens don’t praise their own soup. (Martinican)
On Foolishness: The fool is thirsty in the midst of water. (Ethiopian)
On Friends and Foes: One enemy is too many; one hundred friends, too few. (Icelandic)
On Friendship: Don’t let grass grow on the path of friendship. (Blackfoot-Native American)
On God: God is a good worker but loves to be helped. (Basque)
On Gratitude: When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree. (Vietnamese)
On Greed: Ants die in sugar. (Malay)
On Health and wellness: Before healing others, heal yourself. (Gambian)
On the Human Comedy: The person sins and then blames Satan. (Afghan)
On Hypocrisy: They call her aunt only when her cucumbers are ripe. (Burmese)
On Impossibility: You can’t shave a man’s head in his absence. (Yoruba-West African)
On Journeys: Little by little one walks far. (Peruvian)
On Knowledge and Ignorance: The shoe knows if the stocking has a hole. (Bahamian)
On Leadership: If the townspeople are happy, look for the chief. (Liberian)
On Love: Love is blind, but not the neighbors. (Mexican)
On Luck: When fortune turns against you, even jelly breaks your teeth. (Iranian)
On Money: Money talks—everything else walks. (African American)
On Paradox: Too much sugar is bitter. (Nepalese)
On Parents and Children: What children say, they have heard at home. (Wolof-West African)
On Patience: Grain by grain a loaf; stone by stone a castle. (Yugoslavian)
On Permanence and Change: At high tide fish eat ants; at low tide ants eat fish. (Thai)
On Procrastination: Mañana is often the busiest day of the week. (Spanish)
On Perversity: The new boat will find the old stones. (Estonian)
On Pride: Pride is the mask we make of our faults. (Hebrew)
On Prudence: Eggs have no business dancing with stones. (Haitian)
On Relative Worth: One and one are sometimes eleven. (Kashmiri)
On Self-Reliance: Pray to God but continue to row toward shore. (Russian)
On Strength: The firm tree does not fear the storm. (Dayak-Indonesian)
On Thrift: From saving comes having. (Scottish)
On Vanity and Arrogance: You arrive Mr. Big Shot but leave Mr. Nobody. (Zulu-South African)
On Vigilance: When a thief kisses you, count your teeth. (Yiddish)
On Wealth: Wealth is like dung, only useful when spread. (Chinese)
On Words and Deeds: With the mouth one can ford the wildest river. (Ethiopian)
On Work: To get eggs there must be some cackling. (Dutch)
On Youth and Age: Eat coconuts while you have teeth. (Singhalese)

What are some of your favorite sayings? May your pilgrimage to personal wisdom be blessed.

The wise Buddha in meditation. If you can sit like this, you’re already halfway there!

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