Polish Proverbs

Here are some 120 Polish proverbs. Humming some well-well's to sayings could be fit.

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A bad bush is better than the open field.

A fool may ask more than seven wise men can answer.

A good [thrifty, virtuous] wife is the husband's crown.

A good friend is better than a hundred relatives.

A good joke is worth a tynf [a silver coin].

A good name is better than riches. • A good name, the best of all treasures.

A horse may stumble on four feet.

A middle course is best.

A steady drop makes a hole in the rock.

After rain comes sunshine.

All the goats crawl on a broken tree.

Anger is a short madness. • Anger is a blind thing.

As he brews, so shall he drink.

As they see you so they describe you.

Better late than never.

Clothes do not make the man.

Conscience is the voice of the soul.

Day after day, death is approaching.

Death is good when needed.

Do not triumph before the victory.

Do what you ought, come what may.

Don't gamble, Voyteck, and you won't lose your pants.

Don't make the same mistake twice.

Don't push a river, it flows by itself.

Drop after drop, there will be a sea.

Each age has its own follies.

Eagles fly alone, but sheep flock together.

Earth, mother of all.

Equality produces friendship.

Every country has its own customs.

Every man likes his own thing best.

Everyone has his troubles. • We all have our troubles. Cf. Everyone has their own cross to bear. – We all have our worries.

Evil [Ill] is the bird that fouls its own nest.

Fish begins to stink at the head.

Follow your own advice.

From drink wits shrink.

From the old ox the young one learns to plow.

Goats jump on the bent tree.

God guards the guarded.

Guests and fish stink after three days.

He can ill be master that never was scholar.

He lives long that lives well.

He who cheats another cheats himself most.

He who sits high, sweats the more.

Health is better than wealth.

He'll suffer long who a woman did wrong.

Hope, the mother of fools.

Hunger teaches many things.

If the little goat did not jump around, she would not break her leg.

Ignorance of law is harmful.

Intelligence is the greatest wealth.

It is hard for one man to withstand many.

It is hard striving against the stream.

It is worse to be sick in the soul than in body.

Judge not by appearances. • Appearances are often misleading.

Krakow was not built all at once.

Late children, early orphans.

Let the pig into the garden and she'll push herself everywhere.

Lightning strikes the tallest tree.

Like counsellor, like counsel.

Make haste slowly.

Mice play around, when they don't smell the cat.

Money can't buy love.

Need makes the old wife trot.

No one claims kindred with the poor.

Not everyone with a bald head is a philosopher.

Old age is not joy, death is not a wedding.

One doesn't buy oats from geese.

One flower makes no garland.

One interpretation: "The wicked should be avoided."

One sin leads to another.

Politeness costs nothing. Cf. Good words cost nothing, but are worth much.

Poverty has few friends.

Powder and rouge will not help when the maiden is old.

Pray to God but keep hammering away.

Repay kindness with kindness. • Reward kindness with kindness.

Respect yourself, and others will respect you.

Right is right, and wrong is wrong.

Soon enough if well enough.

Sunrise is late for the very industrious person who feels he must up before dawn.*

Take your own advice.

Talents differ.

The beard does not make [a man] wise.

The blind man has no use for a mirror.

The clever one completes his own projects.

The easy way to lose a friend is to loan him money.

The fox changes his skin but not his habits.

The goat dies but once!

The heart is not a servant. • The heart is no slave.

The man has not yet been born who can please everyone.

The old woman had no trouble so she bought herself a young pig.

The shirt is closer to the body than the coat.

The sun shines on a dung-hill, and yet its beams are not defiled by it.

The tears of the heir to riches, masks laughter too [at times].

The tree falls not at the first blow.

The tree is known by its fruit.

There is always something to learn.

There is no justice in the world.

Three moves are as bad as a fire.

Three things drive a man out of his house - smoke, rain, and a scolding wife.

Thrift is great revenue.

Time flies.

To shoot without powder. [Said of assertions without foundation.]

Today is the pupil of yesterday.

Too much consulting confounds.

Two eyes are better than one.

Two mushrooms in the soup are too much.

Various are the tastes of men.

Water afar does not quench fire.

Weeping does not bring the corpse to life again.

What's lost is lost.

When fish are few, a crab will do.

When the fox dies, fowls do not mourn.

When the tree fell, everyone gather chips from it.

When with crows you go, like them you must caw.

Where they chop wood, chips fly.

Whether we like it or not, in the end we are bound to die. "All men must die."

Who drinks [long], lives long.

Who marries, changes.

Whoever has the itch, let him scratch.

You can't get something out of nothing.

"You will see something as surely as a pig will see the sky." [The catch: Pigs cannot look upwards so much.]