A blind person who sees is better than a seeing person who is blind.
Persian (on wisdom)
A crown’s no cure for a headache.
English (on basic truths)
A new broom sweeps clean but an old broom knows the corners.
Virgin Islander (on friendship)
A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.
American (on proverbs)
A proverb is one man’s wit and all men’s wisdom.
Lord John Russell (1792-1878)
All’s well that ends well.
John Heywood (c.1497-1580)
Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Deal with the faults of others as gently as your own.
Chinese Proverb
Economy is the wealth of the poor and the wisdom of the rich.
French (on thrift)
Even a fish wouldn’t get into trouble if it kept its mouth shut.
Korean (on common sense)
Everything in moderation.
unknown
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and he’ll eat forever.
Chinese Proverb
He that respects himself is safe from others.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
He who flees at the right time can fight again.
Marcus Trentius Varro (c.116-27 BC)
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Health is better than wealth.
unknown
In bad things be slow; in good things be fast.
Afghan (on time and timeliness
Just because something is common sense doesn’t mean it’s common practice.
unknown
Justice is truth in action.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)
Life is a journey, not a destination.
Cliff Nichols, acrafts@wf.net
Life is what you make it.
Grandma Moses (1860-1961)
Live and let live.
Dutch Proverb
Lost time is never found again.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Money buys everything but good sense.
Yiddish (on money)
Nothing is impossible to the willing mind.
Books of the Han Dynasty
One head cannot hold all wisdom.
Maasai(East African)(on wisdom)
One should speak little with others and much with oneself.
Danish (on the conduct of life)
Out of sight, out of mind.
unknown
Plan your life at New Year’s, your day at dawn.
Japanese (on planning)
Plan your life like you will live forever, and live your life like you will die the next day.
unknown, courtesy of Bryan Sullivan
Proverbs are the daughters of experience.
Sierra Leone
Silence is often misinterpreted but never misquoted.
unknown
The errors of a wise man make your rule rather than the perfections of a fool.
William Blake (1757-1827)
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Alphonse Karr (1808-1890)
The truly rich are those who enjoy what they have.
Yiddish (on conscience)
The wise do as much as they should, not as much as they can.
French (on wisdom)
The wise understand by themselves; fools follow the reports of others.
Tibetan (on wisdom)
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
John Ray “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.”
When you say one thing, the clever person understands three.
Chinese (on wisdom)
Wisdom is easy to carry but difficult to gather.
Czech (on wisdom)
Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
Wisdom is to live in the present, plan for the future and profit from the past.
unknown
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom,
Greek Proverb
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.
John Heywood (c.1497-1580)
You can never plan the future by the past.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
You can only die once.
Portuguese Proverb
You have to take the bitter with the sweet.
unknown
