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NATIONAL
PROVERBS
RUSSIA
1 PEČATI
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14.

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Catalunggah sang to colluda
emm
ARTES
LIBRARY
1837
VERITAS
Eymun
JVARKUPATA
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
TUEBOR
SCIENTIA
OF THE
QUÆRIS PENINSULAM AMŮ NAM”
CIRCUMSPICE
HBIOTELE
UWV. }
TJ T
KORKI CHUDDIN TISANET
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1
1
NATIONAL PROVERBS
RUSSIA
Uniform with this Volume
Price 1s. net. In leather bindings 2s. 6d. net.
ENGLAND
SCOTLAND
IRELAND
JAPAN
CHINA
i
HOLLAND
DENMARK
TURKEY
FRANCE (in two Languages)
SPAIN
GERMANY
ITALY
do.
do.
do.
Others in Preparation

S
NATIONAL
PROVERBS:
RUSSIA
PHILADELPHIA :
DAVID MCKAY, PUBLISHER
604-8, So. Washington Square.
זי
7
بدل
X
Printed at The Arden Press,
Letchworth, England.
FONEN "THE
T
Ꮳ
HE Proverbs of a Nation are not only an epitome of
its wisdom, but crystallise for us much of its national
temperament and popular habits of thought. Nowhere, perhaps,
can what are regarded as the national traits be so compactly
presented as in these saws and proverbs. In the preparation of
the present series the utmost care has been taken to unearth
those sayings which are in danger of falling into disuse, and
are not widely known. The commonplace Proverbs have, in
most cases, been rejected; little-known sources have been in-
vestigated, and everything possible done to give, in each case,
the cream of the available material. The Editors will be very
grateful to hear of any good but little-known Proverbs which
readers may be able to add to the present collections.
334735
•

National Proverbs
MEN
EN carry their superiority in-
side, animals outside.
That which is taken in with the
milk, only goes out with the soul.
Samson was a strong man, yet could
not pay money before he had it.
When money speaks, truth keeps
silence.
6

Russia
Beat your wife before dinner, and
again before supper.
He has not known misfortune who
has not married a young widow.
A mother's love will draw up from
the depths of the sea.
He who throws even a splinter to
cover a widow's house will be pro-
tected by God.
When you baptize a Jew, keep him
under water.
7

National Proverbs
!
By birth a landlord, by deeds a
Jew.
The Russian is clever, but always
too late.
A Tartar is born a pig, therefore
he does not eat pork.
The German may be a good fellow;
but it is better to hang him.
One Jew is equal, in cheating, to
two Greeks, one Greek to two
Armenians.
8

Russia
The kindness of the landlord is as
fleeting as the dew.
Even in hell the peasant will have
to serve the landlord, for, while the
latter is boiling in a cauldron the
former will have to put wood under
it.
Should a peasant become a landlord
he will flay the peasants.
To shave destroys the image of
God.
Trust not the landlord until he is
in the coffin.
#1

National Proverbs
Our souls are God's, our bodies the
Tsar's.
In the wood I met a bear, in my
house the stepmother.
A Russian can be cheated only by
a gipsy, a gipsy by a Jew, a Jew by
a Greek, and a Greek by the devil.
Every tribe has its fever, every
mountain its wolf.
The Tsar is not fire, but approach-
ing him you will be singed.
IO:

Russia
Time does not bow to you, you
must bow to time.
Man is caught by his tongue, and
an ox by its horns.
A wife is not an instrument which
can be hung against the wall when
you have played on it.
A guest has not to thank the host,
but the host the guest.
Every fox takes care of its tail.
II
National Proverbs
:
L
T
!

If all fools wore white caps we
should look like a flock of sheep.
In the next world usurers have to
count red-hot coins with bare
hands.
Trust in God, but mind your own
business.
He is a fool who makes his physician
his heir.
He runs from the bear to fall in
with the wolves.
12

Russia
You are born, baptized, married
and buried, but for all you must
pay the priest.
A woman's hair is long, but her
sense is short.
When the priest goes visiting the
devil gets into the parish.
A fool shoots, God guides the
bullet.
Go before God with justice, before
the judge with money.
13

National Proverbs
To defend yourself against a thief,
a stick; to defend yourself against a
Tchinovnik (official), a rouble.
The spoken word cannot be swal-
lowed.
Call a peasant "brother," he will
demand to be called "father."
Measure thy cloth ten times, thou
canst cut it but once.
The Tchinovniks have a good posi-
tion in the next world, they are
directly promoted to be devils.
14

Russia
A gipsy once in his life tells the
truth, and then he repents of so
doing.
The Frenchman's legs are thin, his
soul little, he is fickle as the wind.
If you be a cock, crow; if
lay eggs.
a hen,
A great guest is always dear to a
host.
A man without a wife is like a man
in winter without a fur bonnet.
and
15

National Proverbs
W
A great head has great cares.
A bachelor is a goose sans water.
It is a nuisance to go alone, even to
be drowned.
A word of kindness is better than
a pie.
The greatest king must at last be
put to bed with a shovel.
16

Russia
A nobleman is always in the right
when a peasant sues.
A crab is not a fish among fishes,
a bat is not a bird among birds, a
henpecked husband is not a man
among men.
A husband is father of his wife.
Truth is straight, but judges are
crooked.
When you go to law against the
Emperor, God Himself should be
the judge.
Y
B
17

National Proverbs
The fall of a leaf is a whisper to the
living.
We are not in Poland where the
women are stronger than the men.
The soldier finds a place neither in
Paradise nor hell; for Paradise he is
too outrageous and in hell he would
worry the devils with drinking.
He who fears a sparrow will never
sow millet.
A father's blessing cannot be
drowned in water, nor consumed
by fire.
18
4
1
!

Russia
The hop searches for a pole to rest
and a young girl for a young
on,
man.
Where there are no fish even a craw-
fish calls himself a fish.
I
Knock out his eye who remembers
bygones.
Bury it as a stone in water, only
bubbles at the top.
An old crow croaks not for nothing.
19

National Proverbs
When God made the world he sent
to the Poles some reason and the
feet of a gnat, but even this little
was taken away by a woman.
Napoleon was not scorched; but
he left Moscow.
The wife, without beating the hus-
band, rules him by her temper.
The Tchinovnik but takes up his
pen, and the peasants pray and
birds tremble.
A frightened Frenchman runs away
from even a she-goat.
1
20

Russia
When the ass bears a light load, he
wants to lie down.
Having a good wife and rich cab-
bage soup, other things seek not.
Better to beg than steal, but better
to work than beg.
The burden is light on the shoulder
of another.
A good conscience is God's eye.
21

National Proverbs
Every fish is not a sturgeon.
A Pole tells lies even in his old age.
When the scabbards are broken we
can no longer hide our sabres.
Pray to God, but keep rowing to
the shore.
Drink at table, not behind a pillar.
22

Russia
The wolf asked the goat to dinner,
the goat respectfully declined.
A present is cheap but love is dear.
His thoughts are over the moun-
tains, but death is over his shoulder.
S
Dogs bark and the wind carries it
away.
With God go over the sea, without
Him do not go over the threshold.
23

National Proverbs
Seven never wait for one.
The future belongs to him who
knows how to wait.
Better under the beard of the old
than the whip of the young.
You look for the horse you ride on.
A christianized Jew and a recon-
ciled foe are not to be trusted.
24

Russia
It will last our time, if after us no
grass grows, what does it matter to
us?
Marry not a priest's daughter.
When you die
be buried.
your trumpeter shall
He who weeps from his heart shall
provoke tears even from the blind.
A dog is wiser than a woman, he
does not bark at his master.
25

National Proverbs
When you die even your tomb
shall be comfortable.
The monk has the beard of an
apostle, but the moustache of a
devil.
Fear not the law, but the judge.
If the thunder is not loud the
peasant forgets to cross himself.
When the priest visits you, do not
be over-joyed, he will soon begin
to beg.
26

Russia
A husband's cuffs leave no marks.
The open mouth never remains
hungry.
Make thyself a sheep, and the wolf
is ready.
Honour is on his tongue, and ice
under it.
He who steadies himself between
two ships will certainly be drowned.
27

National Proverbs
As long as the sun shines one does
not ask for the moon.
Man doth what he can, and God
what he will.
An untried friend is like an un-
cracked nut.
S
A wife is not a slipper or a glove or
a saddle which you can remove
when you like.
A fox sleeps but counts hens in his
dreams.
28

Russia
Marriage is the tomb of love.
He will have enough to buy nuts
with it.
Let there only be money, and the
flies will come in numbers.
The paper is patient and the pen is
writing.
The pigs, too, have an annual holi-
day.
29

National Proverbs
Let there only be mud, and the
devil will not fail.
They beat you-and do not even
allow you
to weep.
The dog sees the milk, but the
snout is too short.
By appearance an eagle, but by in-
telligence a black-cock.
If you are afraid of the wolf don't
go into the forest.
30

Russia
The ravens do not tear each other's
eyes out.
Every priest sings after his own
style.
He is in the water up to the neck,
and is clamouring for a drink.
If you have eaten the morsel on
Wednesday, do not look for it on
Thursday.
The wolf is no comrade to the
horse.
31

National Proverbs
In calm weather even a woman can
steer.
In the kingdom of the blind the
one-eyed is king.
In our neighbours' hands the mor-
sel always appears big.
Don't go into a strange monastery
with your own laws.
Select your wife with your ears
rather than with your eyes.
32

Russia
Where God builds a church there
the devil has his chapel.
Where you saw wood, the sawdust
will fall.
If the servants are clad in silk, the
masters are in debt.
He is as stupid as a cork.
An empty stomach has no ears.
с
33

National Proverbs
You give nuts to the squirrel when
it has lost its teeth.
Where there is Kvass there are also
dregs.
One cannot die twice, and one death
we cannot avoid.
God is too high and the Tsar too
far away.
A good dog never barks at the
weather.
34

Russia
Where there is unhappiness there is
no envy.
Debt and misery are neighbours.
God is the guardian of fools.
A native lamb is better than a foreign
cow.
A little egg at Christmas is worth
a great deal.
35

National Proverbs
Spit in his eyes, and he will say it
is the dew of heaven.
There is only one wicked woman in
the world, but every man thinks she
is his wife.
Fools never grow grey.
Marry your son when you wish, and
your daughter when you can.
A woman laughs when she can, and
cries when she wishes.
36

Russia
When the head is stupid the feet
suffer.
Never buy an unseen horse.
A bad woman in the house is worse
than the devil in the wood.
There lies the dog.
You may escape a snake, but not a
calumny.
37

National Proverbs
He knows where the lobsters pass
their winter.
The gambler is the pal of the thief.
If you go to war pray, if you go on
a sea-journey pray twice, but pray
three times when you are going to
be married.
An ikon and a shovel may be made
of the same wood.
If grandmother were not grand-
mother she would be grandfather.
38

Russia
You may feed the wolf as much as
you like, he will always glance to-
wards the forest.
Too much butter will not spoil the
broth.
The bell calls to church, but never
goes there itself.
He who is destined for the gallows
will not be drowned.
A kopeck drives the cart.
39

National Proverbs
Even crooked wood burns straight.
If you are often on horseback, you
may sometimes be under the horse.
The wolf catches, but is also caught.
It is better to turn back than lose
one's way.
What the young one begs for, the
grown-up throws away.
40

Russia
When the mouse is not hungry, the
flour tastes bitter.
A bad peace is better than a good
quarrel.
One fisherman recognizes another
from a distance.
The hen should not crow like the
cock.
Between a woman's "yea” and her
"nay" you cannot even squeeze a
needle through.
4I

National Proverbs
An old man's young wife is neither
girl, wife, nor widow.
He aimed at the raven and hit the
cow.
There is a cover for every pot.
There is no reply to a stupid ques-
tion.
For rotten goods, a blind buyer.
42

Russia
You cannot hang everything on
one nail.
If you are sitting on his cart, you
must also sing his song.
An uninvited guest is worse than a
Tartar.
All that is shaking does not fall.
All Cossacks do not become Atta-
mans (Cossack chiefs).
43

National Proverbs
Not all those who have long knives
are cooks.
Mistrust the horse on the field and
the wife in the house.
Buy not the house, buy the neigh-
bour.
Do not spit into the well-you may
have to drink out of it.
If you are not caught, you are no
thief.
44
Russia
}

If you have not broken the shell
cannot eat the kernel.
you
One cannot smell lemons with a
swine's snout.
He resembles neither his mother
nor father, but some young passer-
by.
An ape in silk is always an ape.
One soldier does not make a regi-
ment.
45

National Proverbs
Only the eagle may look upon the
sun.
They are berries of the same field.
He was born in a shirt.
If the father is a fisherman the
children look into the water.
The squires are fighting, and the
moujiks are suffering.
46

Russia
Better the first quarrel than the last.
The first wife is from God, the
second from man, the third from the
devil.
It is bad when one lamb has seven
shepherds.
Keep a thing seven years, and you
will know what to do with it.
Hair by hair, you may pluck out
the whole beard.
47

National Proverbs
If you can't be a good servant, you
will not be a good master.
It is too late to think of the wine
when the cask is empty.
You may get used even to hell.
Wash a pig as much as you like, it
will always go into the mud.
Drink a glass of wine after your
soup, and you steal half-a-crown
from the physician.
48

Russia
If you are a priest, you must sing the
mass.
He went for wool and came home
shorn himself.
It fits like a saddle on a cow.
Mixed with dry wood even the wet
will burn.
The seller can manage with one eye,
the buyer requires a hundred.
D
49

National Proverbs
Prayers and abuse are lost on him
like peas thrown at the wall.
If the bird sings too early, beware
of the cat.
Jealousy is the sister of love.
The mouth may be crooked, but
the soul is straight.
Weapons, wives, and dogs should
never be lent.
50

Russia
An empty sack cannot stand up.
The drunkard may be in church,
but people will always suppose him
in the public-house.
A friend turned hostile is the worst
enemy.
However much you may boil the
moujik, he will always smell after
cheese.
One only catches fleas in haste.
51

National Proverbs
A drunkard will awake, a fool never.
The fiddle is judged by its tune.
The diamonds of other countries
are always the most beautiful.
Let the wolves be satisfied and the
lambs will be safe.
To-day crowded and to-morrow
deserted.
52

Russia
Straw should be kept away from the
fire.
Treasure is not always a friend but
a friend is always a treasure.
Strength and glory obey the rich.
To ask is no sin, and to be refused
no calamity.
Give the devil a candle as well, you
never know whom you may please.
53

National Proverbs
You will never lure an old wolf into
the toils.
The dog will not eat his own bone
nor allow others to touch it.
Fortune and misfortune dwell in
the same courtyard.
A potful of luck is better than a
sackful of wisdom.
Do not eat cherries with theboyards,
they will throw the stones at you.
54

Russia
A peaceful wolf the calves will lick.
Make peace with men and quarrel
with your sins.
Go wherever you like and die where
you must.
The bashful beggar goes away
hungry.
Make friendship with the wolf, but
keep your axe ready.
55

National Proverbs
Lie down with the dogs and you
will get up with fleas.
You must get down from your
neighbour's horse even in the mud.
If there is no apple one eats a little
carrot.
A full belly is deaf to learning.
A thousand friends are few, one
enemy is too many.
56

Russia
Every animal has its own skin.
The calf sometimes catches the
wolf.
You cannot buy wisdom abroad, if
there is none at home.
A wise companion is half the
journey.
He has five Fridays in a week.
57
National Proverbs
1

John has one custom and Jack
another.
One is wiser in the morning than in
the evening.
Every baron has his own fancy.
The pound must make way for the
pood.
Where the hostess is beautiful, the
wine is good.
58

Russia
It is a stupid mouse that knows only
one hole.
The wrath of the Tsar is the fore-
runner of death.
If you jump over the ditch, you
breaking your neck.
risk
If you wish to eat the honey in peace,
you must kill the bees.
What is the good of honour, if there
is nothing to eat.
59

National Proverbs
What we don't want will do for the
priest.
It's a bad soldier who does not aspire
to be a general.
What is good for the Russian is
death for the German.
What is fallen from the cart is lost.
The bread of strangers is very hard.
L
60

Russia
Take the wool, but leave the skin.
Do not trust the friendship of a
clown.
It is Chinese grammar to us.
Give the apple to the beautiful and
the rose to the wise.
He who serves the altar, the altar
should provide for.
61

National Proverbs
Beware of a bull when you are in
front of him, of a donkey when you
are behind, and of a monk wherever
you are.
They are beating Thomas for Ere-
min's guilt.
To a beaten dog you need only
show a stick.
We are relatives; we have dried our
rags in the same sun.
To make a present to the rich is to
throw water into the sea.
62

Russia
Pray to God, but do not offend the
devil either.
The big fish swallows the little
ones, whole.
A spoonful of tar will spoil a cask of
honey.
There will be a holiday in our street
too, some day.
A new friend is like a frozen stream
in spring.
63

National Proverbs
One does not ask the bull to have a
drink, but to carry the water.
Even a sick wolf will kill a lamb.
The big thieves hang the little
thieves.
Everybody loves the tree which
gives him shelter.
One woman a market, two a fair.
64

Russia
Where the devil is powerless he
sends a woman as his messenger.
If the child does not cry, the mother
knows not its wants.
The mouth of a wolf and the eyes
of the priest are never satisfied.
Until the sun will rise, the dew may
spoil your eyes.
Expensive remedies are always
useful, if not to the sick at least to
the chemist.
E
65

National Proverbs
One need not sow nor reap fools,
they grow freely.
When the daughter is married, we
find many would-be sons-in-law.
The law is like the axle of a carriage,
you can turn it wherever you please.
Even the thief prays to God, but the
devil gets hold of his prayers.
He would tear the skin off a flea.
66

Russia
If you spit in the air, you
own beard.
foul your
The bird is small, but the beak is
sharp.
Where there are seven nurses the
baby is blind.
The cat knows whose meat it eats.
The hungry man has only bread on
his mind.
67

National Proverbs
Necessity teaches the smith to
make boots.
Rust destroys iron and grief the
heart.
One spark set Moscow on fire.
He is a bad thief who robs his
neighbour.
Chickens are counted in the
autumn.
70

Russia
It is the worst wheel that creaks the
loudest.
The shovel insults the poker.
That is not life, that's only a
carnival.
If you are lucky even your cock will
lay eggs.
He would make ropes out of sand.
71

National Proverbs
Php kanał
You cannot sew buttons on your
neighbour's mouth.
Your own rusks taste better than
your neighbour's patty.
It is not your business to rock other
people's cradles.
The devil met his chum and invited
him to his house.
They are teeth, even if they only eat
pudding.
72

Russia
$
I.
It is not the horse but the oats that
draw the cart.
Do not cover your neighbour's roof
while your own is leaking.
There are more subterfuges in a
woman than turns in the wood.
An oat gruel sings its own praise.
The Tsar is generous, but his
generosity passes through the
ministerial sieve.
1
73

National Proverbs
Seek the brave in prison, and the
stupid among the clergy.
Give the naked a piece of cloth,
and he will say it is too thick.
Twice the wife is dear to her hus-
band-when he marries her, and
when he buries her.
If two dogs are quarrelling, let the
third beware.
A good reputation sits still, a bad
one runs about.
74

Russia
To teach a fool is like curing the
dead.
He runs seven versts to eat a
pudding.
Bury truth in a golden coffin, it
will break it open.
A golden hammer will break an
iron ceiling.
When the abbot is in the tavern the
monks get drunk.
75

National Proverbs
•
!
* * * PAN
17 K pe pagini » Thule Bundchenara gharake të plane » •podstabonatat ka
*?
994 % * som tar det
Walk fast and you catch misfortune,
walk slowly and it catches you.
A judge and a stomach, both ask
without words.
Many ants kill the horse.
Where gold speaketh all is silent.
When the devil grows old, he turns
monk.
76

Russia
If a man knew where he would fall,
he would spread a carpet first.
A judge in court is like a fish in a
pond.
Calumny is like coals-it either
burns your hand or makes it dirty.
Love your wife like your soul, and
shake her like a pear-tree.
The husband's sin remains on the
threshold - the wife's enters the
house.
77

National Proverbs
In stealing from a thief one loses
one's time.
Ask not change from the clergy,
nor remainder from a tailor.
Better a drunken wife than an
obstinate one.
If you tickle yourself, you can
laugh when you like.
While saving the egg you may
sometimes lose the fowl.
78

Russia
The bear dances and the gipsy takes
the money.
Not all those marry who make love.
If you have had enough of your
friend, grant him a loan.
A beautiful cage does not feed the
bird.
An old horse doesn't trample the
furrows.
MAS 25 1919
79

!
وه و به
027