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Proverbs: Wisdom Tales
Multicultural proverbs offer interesting insights into the universality
of wisdom. The following are some selected proverbs from Wisdom Tales
From Around the World by Heather Forest, August House Publishers.
"This evocative form of
folklore sometimes stands in the stead of a wisdom tale.
Thought-provoking proverbs can suggest a larger scenario. I invite
readers to look at proverbs creatively and imagine the story the
proverb suggests." -Heather Forest
- One finger cannot lift a pebble. (Iranian)
- When elephants battle, the ants perish.
(Cambodian
- If you chase two hares, you will not catch
either. (Russian)
- The pot calls the kettle black. (United
States)
- The sieve says to the needle: You have a
hole in your tail. (Pakistan)
- It is better to turn back than to get lost.
(Russian)
- Handsome words don't butter cabbage.
(German)
- Talk does not cook rice. (Chinese)
- After the rain, there is no need for an
umbrella. (Bulgaria)
- When the kettle boils over, it overflows its
own sides. (Yiddish)
- You can't chew with somebody else's teeth.
(Yiddish)
- Mistrust is an axe at the tree of love.
(Russian)
- If a farmer becomes a King, he will still
carry a basket on his back. (Hebrew)
- Not all that is black is charcoal.
(Philippine)
- Little brooks make great rivers. (French)
- Every kind of animal can be tamed, but not
the tongue of man. (Philippine)
- Do not look for apples under a poplar tree.
(Slovakian)
- Every ass loves to hear himself bray.
(English)
- He that goes barefoot must not plant thorns.
(English)
- Better to be a free bird than a captive
King. (Danish)
- A blow passes on, a spoken word lingers.
(Yiddish)
- You can't spit on my back and make me think
it's rain. (Yiddish)
- A book gives knowledge, but it is life that
gives understanding. (Hebrew)
- A crooked branch has a crooked shadow.
(Japanese)
- Better bread with water than cake with
trouble. (Russian)
- The heaviest burden is an empty pocket.
(Yiddish)
- A candle lights others but consumes itself.
(English)
- It takes a village to raise a child.
(Africa)
- It is one thing to cackle and another to lay
an egg. (Ecuador)
- One dog barks because it sees something; a
hundred dogs bark because they heard the first dog bark. (Chinese)
- To hide one lie, a thousand lies are needed.
(India)
- A needle wrapped in a rag will be found in
the end. (Vietnamese)
- Do not seek to escape from the flood by
clinging to a tiger's tail. (Chinese)
- Step by step one ascends the staircase.
(Turkey)
- Little by little the cotton thread becomes a
loincloth. (Africa-Dahomey)
- Anger is a bad adviser. (Hungary)
- Eggs must not quarrel with stones.
(Jamaican)
- Eyes can see everything except themselves.
(Serbo-Croatian)
- Haste makes waste. (English)
- Every hill has its valley. (Italian
Learn more about
African Proverbs Select some of your favorite
African Proverbs
The Proverbs above come from Story
Arts: Lesson Plans.
**An exceptional print source for world
proverbs: Mieder, Wolfgang, The Prentice-Hall Encyclopedia of World
Proverbs: A Treasury of Wit and Wisdom Through the Ages, Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1986.
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