As They Say In Zanzibar
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About this ebook
David Crystal, one of the world’s leading commentators on language, tackles the proverbs of the world. In this anthology of global proverbs Crystal brings his customary keen eye and linguistic expertise to this wonderfully rich topic.
Proverbs are fascinating in what they tell us about a culture's view of everyday life: whether it be the importance of animals or the significance of the weather, proverbial wisdom is a key factor in understanding different peoples and cultures. Here David Crystal, the world's leading commentator on language, takes us on a global tour of the world's proverbs. Whether you are in Andorra, China or Tierra del Fuego, there is a nugget of local wisdom to inform and entertain.
Some proverbs to entertain:
- When two elephants struggle, it is the grass which suffers. (Zanzibar)
- One must chew according to one's teeth (Norway)
- Admiration is the daughter of ignorance (Spain)
- A blind man needs no looking glass (Scotland)
- Never bolt your door with a boiled carrot (Ireland)
- Don't call the alligator a big-mouth till you have crossed the river (Belize)
- An untouched drum does not speak. (Liberia)
- Do not try to borrow combs from shaven monks. (China)
David Crystal
David Crystal works from his home in Holyhead, North Wales, as a writer, editor, lecturer and broadcaster. He has published extensively on the history and development of English, including The Stories of English, Evolving English and Spell It Out: The Singular Story of English Spelling. He and his son Ben joined forces to co-write You Say Potato and The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary of Shakespeare. He held a chair at the University of Reading for ten years, and is Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Bangor. He was 'Master of Original Pronunciation' at Shakespeare's Globe in London for its productions of Romeo and Juliet and Troilus and Cressida in 2004-5, and has since acted as an accent consultant for other such productions worldwide.
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Book preview
As They Say In Zanzibar - David Crystal
When two elephants tussle, it’s the grass that suffers
ZANZIBAR
CONTENTS
COVER
TITLE PAGE
INTRODUCTION
THEMATIC CLASSIFICATION
LIST OF PANELS
AS THEY SAY IN ZANZIBAR
KEEP READING
FURTHER READING
INDEXES:
1 THEMES
2 BOOK TO ROGET
3 ROGET TO BOOK
4 LEXEMES
5 COUNTRIES
COPYRIGHT
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
INTRODUCTION
When the occasion comes, the proverb comes
GHANA
If there is falsity in a proverb, then milk can be sour
INDIA
IS THERE still a place for proverbs in the language of the twenty-first century? When I began to compile this book, I asked several people what they thought of proverbs, and encountered a surprising number of negative reactions. One widely held view maintains that proverbs are clichéd expressions, used by those who have not bothered to think clearly. Another sees them as out of date, a reflection of a bygone age. One person – an Internet geek – told me that he ‘wouldn’t be seen dead using one’, citing ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’ as a case in point.
There is a curious double-think operating. I later heard that same geek joking with some colleagues about the poor military intelligence that had led a certain government to make some bad decisions. ‘Garbage in, garbage out’, said the geek. The phrase originated in his IT world: if invalid data (garbage) is entered into a system, the output will also be invalid. During the 1990s, the expression came to be applied to an increasingly varied range of situations. Within a decade, it had taken on proverbial status. My anti-proverbial geek was using a proverb without realizing it.
Within a few days of that first enquiry, I heard several people dropping proverbs, or fragments of proverbs, into their conversations. ‘Needs must’, said one. ‘Ask a silly question’, said another. ‘People in glass houses’, said a third. None of them bothered to complete the well-known proverbs. They were taken for granted.
People may not quote proverbs in full as much as they used to, or treat them with the high respect of an earlier age, but they certainly allude to them. Anyone looking out for proverbs in everyday situations would quickly be able to add to the following brief selection:
A university department that was being axed advertised its farewell party under the banner headline: ‘Come and Hear the Fat Lady Sing’.
A TV comedian made a risqué joke based on ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’.
A US motel trying to attract custom to the claimed comfort of its facilities had a sign outside: ‘The early bird only gets the worm’.
A TV comedy programme called itself ‘Birds of a Feather’.
Proverbs continue to fascinate people. Here is a test anyone can do. Choose one of the less familiar proverbs from this book, drop it into a conversation, and see what happens. My favourite is the Irish proverb Never bolt your door with a boiled carrot. There is invariably an interesting discussion about the proverb’s origins and use. And one proverb then reminds someone of another. It is a bit like punning: when one person makes a pun, others try to do better. Puns are batted back and forth. Some linguists have called this phenomenon ‘ping-pong punning’. There is ping-pong proverbing too. Proverb exchanges and contests have a literary history. You will find one in Shakespeare.
There is something about the proverbs associated with other cultures that allows them to evade the kind of criticism we level at our own native expressions. Whatever else we might say about the following, we would not for one moment call them clichés.
A coconut shell full of water is a sea to an ant (ZANZIBAR)
Don’t call the alligator a big-mouth till you have crossed the river (BELIZE)
An untouched drum does not speak (LIBERIA)
Do not try to borrow combs from shaven monks (CHINA)
Such proverbs do more than express a general truth or universal belief. Each in its own way adds a tiny bit more to our understanding of the world’s linguistic and cultural diversity, and thus helps us grasp more fully what it means to be human.
It is a commonplace of comparative linguistics that every language expresses a unique vision of the world. This is not to say that each language is so different from others that its speakers can never communicate outside their own people. The existence of ‘balanced bilinguals’ – people who have learned two languages from childhood with equal fluency – and the everyday phenomenon of translating and interpreting proves otherwise. Rather, it is to point out that languages are not identical in the way in which they talk about the world. There is a limit to the amount of exact translation equivalence that can be achieved, and people have to be satisfied with an approximation. And it is in this area of approximate equivalence that fascinating cultural differences can be found.
Commentators over the years have drawn attention to the importance of a comparative linguistic perspective on life. Here is Ezra Pound, in The ABC of Reading (1960):
The sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all forms and degrees of human comprehension.
And here is George Steiner, in a 1967 essay (‘F R Leavis’):
Is it not the duty of the critic to avail himself, in some imperfect measure at least, of another language – if only to experience the defining contours of his own?
The ideal, of course, is to learn enough of another language to be able to get a sense of the differences directly – to feel the contours, without having to rely on a translating intermediary. The second-best approach is to read, in translation, as much as possible of the culturally distinctive literature of other languages, such as its poems, stories, myths, legends – and proverbs.
A collection of cross-linguistic proverbs is of special interest because it conveys two opposed but equally interesting messages. On the one hand, it draws attention to the differences of expression and perception which characterize the world’s communities. On the other hand, it shows that, to a very great extent, these communities are the same. People recognize, admire and worry over similar things. Notions such as ‘More haste, less speed’ can be found in dozens of cultures. And in such examples as the following, the nuance may vary, but the spirit behind the proverb remains the same:
A guest and a fish after three days are poison (FRANCE)
Seven days is the length of a guest’s life (MYANMAR)
However, this common human perspective is a complication when it comes to compiling a book such as this one, which aims to be illustrative of proverbial diversity and not comprehensive. It is not possible, in a short selection, to include a proverb as it appears in every country; nor – if reader interest is to be preserved – is it desirable. To illustrate the point, consider these variations on the guest theme – just a few taken from Selwyn Gurney Champion’s huge collection of translated cultural proverbs (see Further Reading):
A fish and a guest go bad on the third day and must be thrown out (BASQUE)
Fish and guests smell at three days old (DANISH)
A guest, like a fish, stinks the third day (DUTCH)
A fish and a guest after three days are poison (ENGLISH)
Guests and fish will get old on the third day (ESTONIAN)
The first day a guest, the second a guest, the third day a calamity (HINDI)
Even a welcome guest becomes a bore on the third day (JAPANESE)
We need only one example to appreciate the point, but that means grasping the nettle and selecting one country to represent all. I have endeavoured to introduce as wide a range of countries as possible, when making such choices. There are 110 (apart from England) listed in Index 5.
All anthologies are made with particular audiences in mind, and selections inevitably change over time. Until as recently as thirty years ago, it would have been normal to find in any proverb collection a predominantly masculine bias, reflecting traditional male-dominated society. Many items, both those native to English and those in translation, would have begun with ‘He who …’ or ‘The man who …’. Times have moved on. I have replaced these with a generic usage, unless there is a genuine male v female contrast involved. A remarkable number of proverbs, in many countries, also reflect unpalatable notions, such as the desirability of beating one’s wife to ensure obedience. And most countries have proverbs which are extremely rude about the people, politics, or religion of their neighbours, especially those with whom they have been at war. I have not included these either, wishing to provide a selection which reinforces the ideals of a more tolerant and inclusive age. The dismissive attitudes are available in the older literature cited in Further Reading, should anyone wish to read them.
From a linguistic point of view, I have adopted a sentence-based notion of proverb, as is usual these days. In earlier times, the notion of a proverbial expression covered a wide range of linguistic features, including idioms, riddles, similes, and everyday phrases. John Bull, hard cheese, Merry England, and I told you so have all been called ‘proverbs’ in one collection or another, in times past. All the proverbs in the present collection are sentences, conveying autonomous units of sense in a succinct form. Many display structural balance, parallelism, rhythmical contrast, and other rhetorical features which add to their memorability and help explain their common use. But it is not obligatory for a proverb to have a tightly controlled linguistic structure. What is important is the insight rather than the form.
It is not easy to define proverbs from the point of view of the kinds of insight they express. They are generalizations which express a remarkable range of functions – conveying advice, warning against consequences, predicting likelihoods, and recommending behaviours (such as diplomacy, courtesy, charity, and kindliness). Many are quite literal, such as An apple a day keeps the doctor away. The more interesting ones operate at two levels of meaning. Whatever we can say about the meaning of Don’t burn your candle at both ends, one thing is certain: we are not really talking about candles.
Proverb collections have used many methods of organization, from alphabetical order to a broad thematic classification. For the present book, I felt the most interesting principle would be to organize the material into semantic fields, as it is in these domains that we are likely to encounter interesting cultural comparisons. Semantic fields are ways of organizing words (more strictly, lexemes: see Index 4) into related groups, such as ‘furniture’, ‘fruit’, and ‘parts of the body’.
There is no single way of grouping words (and thus proverbs) semantically. Within the category of ‘parts of the body’, for example, we can distinguish such contrasts as ‘upper’ v ‘lower’, or ‘head’ v ‘trunk’ v ‘limbs’, or ‘arms’ v ‘legs’, or ‘fingers’ v ‘hands’, and so on. For the present book, I have allowed my depth of detail to be influenced by the nature of the proverbial material. Proverbs talk quite a lot about parts of the body, so I have devoted several sections to them (232–250). By contrast, there are very few proverbs devoted to musical instruments, so I have grouped all types of instrument under a single heading (272).
But how to organize the semantic fields into a sequence? Some collections adopt an arbitrary solution, listing them alphabetically, beginning with ‘Ability’ (or some other A-notion) and ending with such categories as ‘Year’ or ‘Youth’. This has the disadvantage of separating groups that we feel should belong together. Others list proverbs according to the ‘most significant word’ – an approach which is doomed to confusion, faced with the many proverbs that contain words that compete for our attention. Which is the most significant word in The sweeter the perfume, the uglier the flies which gather round the bottle? Plainly, all the main words make a contribution to the sense, and all need to be recognized.
I much prefer an approach which sequences proverb categories on the basis of the semantic relationship between them. I could have started from scratch, and devised a new system, but what is the point, when we already have a system of semantic classification that has been in widespread use for the past 150 years? I am referring to Roget’s Thesaurus, first published in May 1852. Roget has become the standard tool for people who want a thesaurus which organizes words into fields of meaning (as distinct from those thesauruses which list words in alphabetical order along with sets of synonyms and antonyms). I felt the level of generality which Roget used in his approach would be close to that required in a thematic classification of proverbs, so I adopted his logic as a means of sequencing the themes I needed to recognize in this book. Sometimes Roget’s categories were too abstract, and I had to break them down into more specific domains. Sometimes they were too narrow, and I had to group them into broader types. But on the whole the exercise was helpful, and many of my themes are in a one-to-one relationship with Roget’s. The approach may also help those who wish to take Roget in new directions. I have always regretted the absence of proverbs in that work, and Indexes 2 and 3 of the present book can be used to add a proverbial dimension to it.
How then to handle the complexity of such proverbs as The sweeter the perfume, the uglier the flies which gather round the bottle? If one of the constituent words stood out – flies, say – it would be possible to place the proverb into the appropriate category (‘Insects’) and cross-refer all the other words to it. But that would mean five cross references – from sweet, perfume, ugly, gather round, and bottle. Clearly, such a method of classification would flood a book with cross references, and readers would be forever jumping around with their fingers in different pages.
The alternative is to place the proverb into each of the semantic fields that its constituent words belong to. So, we would locate this proverb once under ‘Bottles’, once under ‘Sweet’, and so on. The demerit of this approach is that a single proverb appears several times throughout the book. But this is far outweighed, in my view, by the convenience of seeing each proverb in its appropriate semantic place, without the need for cross reference. The statistics are as follows: the book as a whole has some 7,500 listings, representing 2,015 different proverbs, grouped into 468 semantic fields, representing around 650 themes. For a list of the semantic fields and their order, see the Contents page. For a complete listing of all the themes recognized within these fields, see Index 1.
Anthologies are never finished, only abandoned. In the case of proverbs, one has to recognize very early on that the field is one of extraordinary magnitude. The proverbs of the world are numbered not in thousands but in millions. What is a couple of thousand among so many? I believe that small-scale compilations have their place, for there are still many avenues in the investigation of proverbs which remain to be explored. For this book, I have attempted to integrate just two dimensions – the cross-cultural and the semantic. But they are dimensions which are not usually considered together, and I hope thereby to make a small contribution to the evolution of this fascinating field.
This has also been an exercise in standing on shoulders. My research has taken me from the early classical collections, such as Ray’s Proverbs of 1767, into modern popular collections, of the ‘Thousand Chinese Proverbs’ type, and from there into the World Wide Web, where there are now some remarkable intercultural sites. I give some references in Further Reading. I warmly acknowledge the help I have had from earlier paremiographers, and hope that this latest anthology does them, and their field, no disservice.
David Crystal
THEMATIC CLASSIFICATION
Existence
Family
Sameness
Difference
Small amount
Large amount
Increase – Decrease
One alone
One of two
One of several
Accompaniment
Two – Twice – Both
Three – Third
Four or more
Next to nothing
Multitude
Better – Worse
Uniting
Separating
Chain – Rope – String
Whole – Part
Full – Entire
Empty – Lacking
Sequence – Order
Assemblages
Contents
Kinds
Always happening
Conformity
Repetition
Time
Years – Seasons – Months – Weeks
Days – Nights
Mornings – Afternoons – Evenings
Hours – Minutes – Seconds
Long time
Never
Clocks – Watches
Beginnings – Endings
Beforehand
Afterwards
Past – Present – Future
Sooner or later
Newness
Oldness
Age
A time and a place
Sometimes
Lasting
Ceasing
Changing
Happenings
Cause – Effect
Strength – Weakness
Production
Destruction
Force
Parents – Children
Locations
Standing – Sitting – Lying
Finding
Home – Abroad
Countries
Cities – Towns – Villages
Where to live
Houses
Doors – Windows – Keys
Guests
Absent – Present
Bags – Sacks
Barrels – Casks
Baskets
Bottles – Cans
Cups – Glasses
Dishes – Plates
Pots – Bowls – Jugs
Spoons – Ladles
Wells
Other containers
Loads
Big size
Little size
Big v Little
Distance
Nearness
Long – Short
Middle – Ends
Wide – Narrow
Hairs – Threads
High – Low
Depth
Hills – Mountains
Top – Bottom
Holding
Support
Tables – Chairs
Upright – Falling
Outside – Inside
Covering
Clothing
Bodywear
Footwear
Headwear
Weaving
Between
Walls
Edges
Enclosures
In front – Behind
Sides
Building
Straight – Bent – Crooked
Roundness
Prominences
Holes
Sharp things
Rough – Smooth
Opening – Closing
Motion
Standing still
Coming – Going
Walking
Riding
Carrying
Travel by land
Travel by sea
Travel by river
Swimming
Travel by air
Fast
Slow
Striking
Directions
Throwing
Pushing – Pulling
Arrival
Departure
Entering – Leaving
Hunger
Thirst
Eating
Food
Cooking
Meals
Fruit
Vegetables
Meat
Soup
Bakery
Dairy
Sauces – Condiments – Sweeteners
Alcoholic drinks
Non-alcoholic drinks
Excretion
Inserting – Extracting
Passing
Ascent
Descent
Lifting – Rising
Lowering – Dropping
Jumping
Revolving
Shaking
Things
Materials
World
Sun – Moon – Stars
Sky – Clouds – Weather
Wind
Weight
Hard – Brittle – Soft
Flour
Rubbing – Lubricating
Water
Semi-liquids – Semi-solids
Wet – Dry
Seas
Rivers – Streams
Inland water
Conduits
Land – Ground
Rocks – Stones
Breathing – Blowing
Birth
Life
Death
Life v Death
Killing
Drowning
Corpses – Burials
Bears
Camels
Cats
Cattle – Oxen
Dogs
Elephants
Foxes
Goats
Horses – Donkeys
Hyenas
Lions – Tigers – Leopards
Mice – Rats
Monkeys – Gorillas
Pigs
Rabbits – Hares
Sheep
Wolves
Other wild animals
Birds
Types of bird
Poultry
Fish – Fishing
Types of fish – Crustaceans
Frogs – Toads
Reptiles
Worms
Ants
Bees
Fleas
Flies
Other insects
Forests – Woods
Trees
Grass – Hay
Bushes – Hedges
Flowers – Gardens
Agriculture
People – Peoples
Men
Women
Men v Women
Heart – Blood
Bones – Joints
Back – Buttocks
Stomach – Liver
Skin – Fur – Shell – Feathers
Head
Hair (or not)
Face
Mouth
Tongue
Teeth
Ears
Eyes
Arms
Hands
Fingers – Thumbs
Legs
Feet – Toes
Tail
Washing
Feeling
Touch
Heat – Warmth
Fire
Extinguishing
Fuel – Smoke
Cold – Cool
Taste
Sweet
Sour
Smell
Sound
Silence
Faint noise
Loudness
Object noises
Animal noises
Human noises
Music
Song
Musical instruments
Hearing
Light
Candles – Lanterns
Dark
Looking – Seeing
Blindness
Colours
Black – White
Watching
Appearing – Disappearing
Mind
Thinking
Attention – Inattention
Careful – Careless
Questions
Answers
Seeking
Counting – Testing – Measuring
Possible – Probable – Impossible
Certain – Uncertain
Judging
Discovering
Belief – Unbelief
Knowledge
Ignorance
Scholarship
Truth
Error
Proverbs – Sayings
Intelligence
Wisdom
Stupidity
Madness
Remembering
Forgetting
Expectation
Destiny
Meaning
Information
Disclosure
Concealment
Books
News – Advertising
Teaching – Learning
Lies
Deception
Signs – Symbols
Art – Arts
Languages
Words
Names – Titles
Speech
Conversation
Reading – Writing
Literature
Endurance – Patience
Choice
Habit – Practice
Good
Better
Best
Bad
Worse
Worst
Business
Pursuit
Avoidance
Passageway
Roads – Streets
Need
Manner – Means
Tools
Providing – Keeping
Sufficient
Importance
No matter
Useful
Useless
Perfect – Imperfect
Clean
Dirty
Health – Ill health
Diseases
Mending – Restoring
Healing – Medicine
Doctors – Dentists
Deterioration
Poison
Safety – Danger
Preservation
Trying
Using – Not using
Deeds
Work – Pay – Leisure
Energy
Operation
Inactivity
Laziness
Awake – Asleep
Beds
Haste
Advice
Ability – Skill – Cunning
Difficult
Easy
Help
Taking sides
Quarrelling
Attack – Fighting
Defence – Castles
War – Peace
Soldiers
Weapons
Complete – Incomplete
Success – Failure
Fortune – Misfortune
Luck – Bad luck
Power
Obedience – Disobedience
Service
Freedom
Catching
Restraint
Permission
Prevention
Acquiring
Losing
Having possessions
Having a mind
Having a body
Having relatives and pets
What animals have
What things and notions have
Offers – Promises – Refusals
Retaining
Giving – Gifts
Receiving
Lending – Borrowing
Taking
Stealing
Buying – Selling
Money
Types of money
Rich – Poor
Payment
Cost
Cheap – Dear
Economizing
Happiness – Joy
Pleasure
Sadness – Grief
Pain
Troubles
Laughing – Jesting
Crying
Amusements
Performing arts
Gambling – Cards
Sports – Games
Beauty
Beautification
Jewellery – Ornament
Spoiling
Ridicule
Hope
Fear
Courage
Caution
Desire
Wonders
Fame – Shame
Pride – Modesty
Friends
Neighbours
Enemies
Society
Politeness
Love
Kisses – Caresses
Dislike – Anger
Marriage
Tenderness – Forgiveness
Goodness – Evil
Deserving
Respect – Contempt
Praise – Blame
Drunkenness
Laws – Lawyers
Punishment
God – Gods
Angels – Saints
Devils
Heaven
Worship
Clergy
Church
LIST OF PANELS
Panel 1 Family mottoes
Panel 2 Groups of three
Panel 3 Proverbs in Shakespeare
Panel 4 Country variations – climate
Panel 5 Present tense
Panel 6 Belonging together
Panel 7 Children play with proverbs
Panel 8 Country variations – artefacts
Panel 9 Succinctness
Panel 10 Local words
Panel 11 Phonetic structure
Panel 12 Dramatic proverbs
Panel 13 Tracing a history
Panel 14 First person proverbs
Panel 15 A character called Proverbs
Panel 16 Country variations – animals
Panel 17 Country variations – plants
Panel 18 Contrasts
Panel 19 Proverb grammar
Panel 20 A catch-phrase becoming a proverb
Panel 21 Nonstandard language
Panel 22 Paremiographers
Panel 23 Proverbs in Shakespeare’s school
Panel 24 A proverb poem
Panel 25 Proverbial software
Panel 26 ‘Proverbs’ in Shakespeare
Panel 27 Being bilingual
Panel 28 Authorial creations
Panel 29 Adults play with proverbs
Panel 30 Country variations – beliefs and behaviour
Panel 31 Biblical proverbs
Panel 32 Unfinished proverbs
1 EXISTENCE
God did not create hurryFINLAND
Do not blame God for having created the tiger, but thank Him for not having given it wingsETHIOPIA
The face came before the photographUSA
Heroism consists in hanging on one minute longerNORWAY
Everything comes to those who waitENGLAND
There’s a time and a place for everythingENGLAND
The existence of the sea means the existence of piratesMALAYSIA
Handsome is as handsome doesENGLAND
Friendly is as friendly doesUSA
Everything is possible, except to bite your own noseNETHERLANDS
Fingers were made before forksENGLAND
The bigger they come, the harder they fallUSA
When God made the rabbit He made bushes tooHUNGARY
Let the church stand in the churchyardENGLAND
Everything will perish save love and musicSCOTLAND
Rules are made to be brokenENGLAND
If you aren’t what you ain’t, then you ain’t what you areUSA
2 FAMILY
If you have no relatives, get marriedEGYPT
Vultures eat with their blood relationsSOUTH AFRICA
One family builds the wall; two families enjoy itCHINA
In every family’s cooking-pot is one black spotCHINA
The bazaar knows neither father nor motherTURKEY
A hundred aunts is not the same as one motherSIERRA LEONE
If my aunt had wheels, she might be an omnibusNETHERLANDS
Bed is your brotherZANZIBAR
Better a neighbour over the wall than a brother over the seaALBANIA
Two happy days are seldom brothersBULGARIA
Three brothers, three fortressesPORTUGAL
Brotherly love for brotherly love, but cheese for moneyALBANIA
Children regard their father’s guest as a slaveREPUBLIC OF CONGO
A father is a banker provided by natureFRANCE
It’s a wise child that knows its own fatherENGLAND
The house with an old grandparent harbours a jewelCHINA
Those whose mother is naked are not likely to clothe their auntSUDAN
Love and blindness are twin sistersUKRAINE
When you are chased by a wolf you call the boar your uncleSLOVENIA
The spear of kinship soon pierces the eyeCAMEROON
Many kiss the child for the nurse’s sakeENGLAND
Those who gossip about their relatives have no luck and no blessingNETHERLANDS
3 SAMENESS
It is not the one way everyone goes madIRELAND
The cry of the hyena and the loss of the goat are oneNIGERIA
Both legs in the stocks or only one is all the sameGERMANY
Luck and bad luck are driving in the same sledgeRUSSIA
1 FAMILY MOTTOES
Many Latin family mottoes are no more than single words or phrases, such as Labora (‘Endeavour’). But a number are sentences with a proverbial character. Some families have even adopted a proverb as their motto. In these examples, an illustrative family surname is given in parentheses.
Vivis sperandum While there is life there is hope (NIVEN)
Non est sine pulvere palma The prize is not won without dust (YARBURGH)
Ex vulnere sallus Health comes from a wound (BORTHWICK)
Ales volat propriis The bird flies to its own (TUFTON)
Praemonitas praemunitus Forewarned, forearmed (RICKART)
Virtus omnia vincit Virtue conquers all (WHITE)
Labor omnia vincit Labour conquers all (BROWN)
Spes anchora tuta Hope is a safe anchor (DUNMURE)
Audaces fortuna juvat Fortune favours the brave (CARPENTER)
Other languages than Latin can be a source. Here are two from French (or Old French):
Qui sera sera What will be will be (BETENSON)
Qui s’estime petyt deviendra grand Who esteems himself little will become great (PETYT)
Ability and necessity dwell in the same cabinNETHERLANDS
Lovers have much to relate – but it is always the same thingGERMANY
Those who stumble twice over the same stone are foolsLATIN
It is the hyenas of the same den that hate one anotherKENYA
Straps come from the same leatherARGENTINA
A bad thing that does no harm is the same as a good one that does no goodGERMANY
There are many paths to the top of the mountain – but the view is always the sameCHINA
A hole here and there is not the same as a windowKENYA
You cannot jump over two ditches at the same timeNETHERLANDS
If you climb up a tree, you must climb down the same treeSIERRA LEONE
Thin ice and thick ice look the same from a distanceUSA
No one can blow and swallow at the same timeGERMANY
No one can paddle two canoes at the same timeSOUTH AFRICA
You can never get all the possums up the same treeUSA
Lightning never strikes twice in the same placeENGLAND
Love and blindness are twin sistersUKRAINE
Crows everywhere are equally blackCHINA
The water is the same on both sides of the boatFINLAND
Not even a bell always rings the same waySERBIA
When it rains, the roof always drips the same wayLIBERIA
Great minds think alikeENGLAND
One beetle knows anotherIRELAND
Before God and the bus-conductor we are all equalGERMANY
The nail suffers as much as the holeNETHERLANDS
Don’t run too far; you will have to come back the same distanceFRANCE
Your fingers can’t be of the same lengthCHINA
A hundred aunts is not the same as one motherSIERRA LEONE
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bushENGLAND
A dollar in the bank is worth two in the handUSA
The game is not worth the candleENGLAND
Beans are not equal to meatNAMIBIA
A child is more than a chipESTONIA
Two wrongs do not make a rightENGLAND
The more things change the more they remain the sameFRANCE
4 DIFFERENCE
Do not put each foot on a different boatCHINA
What makes one abbot glad makes another abbot sadSCOTLAND
Many people are like clocks, they show one hour and strike anotherDENMARK
When it rains on one it only drips on anotherNETHERLANDS
The broad-minded see the truth in different religions; the narrow-minded see only the differencesCHINA
Different holes have different fishMALAYSIA
You cannot take one part of a fowl for cooking and leave the other part to lay eggsINDIA
Look the other way when the girl in the tea-house smilesJAPAN
The exception proves the ruleENGLAND
A frog beneath a coconut shell believes there is no other worldMALAYSIA
Other people’s books are difficult to readNETHERLANDS
The toughest broncs is always them you’ve rode some other placeUSA
Fools seldom differENGLAND
Raindrops can’t tell broadcloth from jeansUSA
One generation plants the trees; another gets the shadeCHINA
Other trees, other woodcuttersLITHUANIA
Variety is the spice of lifeENGLAND
When one door shuts, another opensSCOTLAND
5 SMALL AMOUNT
To the ant, a few drops of rain is a floodJAPAN
The sea is made bigger even by one dropRUSSIA
Better a handful of bees than a basketful of fliesMOROCCO
Every little helpsENGLAND
Those who want the last drop out of the can get the lid on their noseNETHERLANDS
Even a small star shines in the darknessFINLAND
A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you rosesCHINA
A little wood will heat a little ovenENGLAND
A sip at a time empties the caskNORWAY
The biggest help is help, and even the smallest help is helpIRELAND
Those who do not wish little things do not deserve big thingsBELGIUM
An indispensable thing never has much valueGEORGIA
Be always a little afraid so that you never have need of being much afraidFINLAND
Cabbage is the best invalid, it needs only a little waterSERBIA
A good driver turns in a small spaceFRANCE
Errands are small on a spring dayICELAND
Every blade of grass gets its own drop of dewSCOTLAND
Falling hurts least those who fly lowCHINA
Generally one loses less by being known too little than by being known too muchLATIN
If you haven’t much to do, start cleaning your own backyardUSA
It takes little effort to watch someone carry a loadCHINA
To part is to die a littleFRANCE
It’s a small worldENGLAND
A little drop of water silences a boiling potGERMANY
Small cares make many words, great ones are muteGERMANY
When the bed is small lie in the centreSPAIN
A small bed will not hold two personsNIGERIA
A tree with ripe fruit needs little shakingSWITZERLAND
Least said, soonest mendedENGLAND
Little said is easy mended; nothing said needs no mendingIRELAND
Great consolation may grow out of the smallest sayingSWITZERLAND
6 LARGE AMOUNT
Much treasure, many mothsESTONIA
A big crop is best, but a little crop will doSCOTLAND
The bird can drink much, but the elephant drinks moreSENEGAL
The peace-maker gets two-thirds of the blowsMONTENEGRO
They that love most speak leastSCOTLAND
Discretion is the better part of valourENGLAND
A fox knows much; a hedgehog one great thingGREECE
Lovers have much to relate – but it is always the same thingGERMANY
Many donkeys need much strawSPAIN: BASQUE
Many drops make a puddleNETHERLANDS
Too much courtesy is discourtesyJAPAN
Too much discussion will lead to a rowCÔTE D’IVOIRE
What is inflated too much will burst into fragmentsETHIOPIA
Where there is most mind there is least moneyLATIN
Who sieves too much, keeps the rubbishBELGIUM
Think much, say little, write lessFRANCE
The fish said, ‘I have much to say, but my mouth is full of water.’GEORGIA
Those who speak much must either know a lot or lie a lotGERMANY
Drinking a little too much is drinking a great deal too muchGERMANY
Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspirationUSA
The roughest stone becomes smooth when it is much rolledSWITZERLAND
Too much tying loosensSYRIA
Who knows much, mistakes muchARMENIA
If you engrave it too much it will become a holeINDIA
A reasonable amount of fleas is good for a dog; they keep him from broodin’ on being a dogUSA
7 INCREASE – DECREASE
Little by little grow the bananasREPUBLIC OF CONGO
The first stage of folly is to consider oneself wiseBELGIUM
Friendship is stepsKENYA
Add caution to cautionJAPAN
Is it necessary to add acid to the lemon?INDIA
Quick work – double workMONTENEGRO
Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing stillCHINA
No matter how full the river, it still wants to growREPUBLIC OF CONGO
One good turn deserves anotherENGLAND
The sea is made bigger even by one dropRUSSIA
Two things make one either greater or smaller, praise and shadowsGERMANY
The more one sleeps the less one livesPORTUGAL
More haste, less speedENGLAND
Another day, another dollarUSA
A bald-headed man cannot grow hair by getting excited about itREPUBLIC OF CONGO
The more you stroke a cat, the more it lifts its tailESTONIA
A rolling stone gathers no mossENGLAND
A stationary stone gathers mossRUSSIA
8 ONE ALONE
One dog can’t fightIRELAND
Once is no customNETHERLANDS
The wise person is cheated only onceFINLAND
No stone ever falls aloneBELGIUM
In every family’s cooking-pot is one black spotCHINA
We boil our rice only onceINDIA
Who hears but one bell hears but one soundFRANCE
Who hears music feels his solitudeFRANCE
Solitude is full of GodSERBIA
Hit one ring and the whole chain will resoundSOUTH AFRICA
One link broken, the whole chain is brokenGERMANY
One spot spots the whole dressBELGIUM
One bad pipe ruins the entire organNETHERLANDS
One rotten egg spoils the whole puddingGERMANY
One rotten apple spoils the whole barrelENGLAND
The eyes have one language everywhereENGLAND
Heroism consists in hanging on one minute longerNORWAY
Rather once cry your heart out than always sighCHINA
The person who steals once is always a thiefSPAIN
Between two points one cannot draw more than one straight lineDENMARK
Empty gossip jumps with one legESTONIA
It is better to be once in the church sleigh than always in the back runnersFINLAND
Those who have only one bow should be content with one fiddleGERMANY
One bell serves a parishITALY
A single bracelet doesn’t jingleGUINEA
Those who have once had luck cannot always call themselves unluckyBELGIUM
A hundred aunts is not the same as one motherSIERRA LEONE
One thread for the needle, one love for the heartSUDAN
Once a crook, always a crookUSA
Beware the man with only one gunUSA
When a single hair has fallen from your head, you are not yet baldSIERRA LEONE
A fox knows much; a hedgehog one great thingGREECE
Never less alone than when aloneLATIN
If you play alone, you will winSYRIA
9 ONE OF TWO
One hand washes the other; both hands wash the faceALBANIA
If a string has one end, then it has another endCHINA
If you have two loaves of bread, sell one and buy a lilyCHINA
Never try to catch two frogs with one handCHINA
You cannot hold two water melons in one handIRAN
The story is only half told when one side tells itICELAND
When two ride on one horse, one must sit behindENGLAND
Too many affairs are like pumpkins in water; one pops up while you try to hold down the otherCHINA
One family builds the wall; two families enjoy itCHINA
One generation plants the trees; another gets the shadeCHINA
One foot is better than two stiltsFRANCE
Both legs in the stocks or only one is all the sameGERMANY
In one stable there may be a steed and an assBELGIUM
A lie stands upon one leg, but truth upon twoENGLAND
When one door shuts, another opensSCOTLAND
To learn costs you one effort, to unlearn, twoBULGARIA
One beetle knows anotherIRELAND
If two people tell you you are blind, shut one eyeGEORGIA
You cannot take one part of a fowl for cooking and leave the other part to lay eggsINDIA
One hand can’t tie a bundleLIBERIA
Justice becomes injustice when it makes two wounds on a head which only deserves oneREPUBLIC OF CONGO
Those who have two garments do not wear one onlyZANZIBAR
Two crocodiles don’t live in one pondGAMBIA
You can’t dance at two weddings with one pair of feetUSA
When you pick up a stick at one end, you also pick up the other endUSA
Two heads are better than oneENGLAND
Better ask twice than go wrong onceGERMANY
Once bitten, twice shyENGLAND
Measure twice, cut onceSLOVAKIA
Those who cheat me once, shame fall them; those who cheat me twice, shame fall meSCOTLAND
Someone with a watch knows what time it is; someone with two watches is never sureFRANCE
See also:12 TWO – TWICE – BOTH
10 ONE OF SEVERAL
Rain does not fall only on one roofCAMEROON
Better one living word than a hundred dead onesGERMANY
A hat is not made for one showerENGLAND
Before going to war say one prayer; before going to sea, two; before getting married, threePOLAND
The spider does not weave its web for one flySLOVENIA
The sea is made bigger even by one dropRUSSIA
One buffalo brings mud and all the herd are smeared with itMALAYSIA
If one finger is gashed, all the fingers are covered with bloodREPUBLIC OF CONGO
A basket-maker who makes one basket makes a hundredBRAZIL
It’s a poor mouse that has but one holeNETHERLANDS
An elephant does not die from one broken ribKENYA
Don’t tell all of your jokes on one programUSA
One bird in the dish is better than a hundred in the airGERMANY
If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want ten years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want a hundred years of prosperity, grow peopleCHINA
Life is just one damned thing after anotherUSA
One accident is one too manyCANADA
One loose pebble can start a landslideUSA
One broken rail will wreck a trainUSA
Don’t keep all your tongs in one fireCANADA
Don’t put all your eggs in one basketENGLAND
There are more ways than one to kill a catENGLAND
A cloth is not woven from a single threadCHINA
One servant is a servant; two servants are half a servant; three servants are no servant at allPOLAND
It takes a whole village to raise one childNIGERIA
One actor cannot make a playUSA
Where water has once flowed it will flow againMONTENEGRO
Troubles never come singlyENGLAND
11 ACCOMPANIMENT
When you have no companion, consult your walking-stickALBANIA
Misery loves companyENGLAND
Two’s company; three’s a crowdENGLAND
When a blind person carries the banner, woe to those who followFRANCE
Where the needle goes the thread must followPOLAND
Pull the ear, the head followsBANGLADESH
When one sheep is over the dam, the rest will followNETHERLANDS
Every flood will have an ebbSCOTLAND
Who has God for his friend has all the saints in his pocketITALY
The reverse side has