Traditional Proverbs
Browse traditional proverbs from cultures and traditions around the world, offering timeless insights on success, personal growth, leadership, mindset, and achievement.
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“He that takes medicine and neglects diet wastes the skill of the physician.”
“Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart.”
“What was hard to bear is sweet to remember.”
“Promise little and do much.”
“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”
“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”
“You can't pour from an empty cup.”
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
“The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.”
“Let go, or be dragged.”
“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”
“Dig the well before you are thirsty.”
“Money grows on the tree of persistence.”
“One tree does not make a forest.”
“There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is being superior to your previous self.”
“We cannot see our reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.”
“Success and rest don’t sleep together.”
“To hear something a hundred times is not as good as seeing it once.”
“Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes.”
“Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.”
“To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.”
“As you think, you travel, and as you love, you attract.”
“If you don't want anyone to find out, don't do it.”
“What is meant for you will reach you even if it is beneath two mountains, and what is not meant for you will not reach you even if it is between your two lips.”
“Vision without action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare.”
“He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything.”
“With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.”
“Arrogance diminishes wisdom.”
“Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement.”
“Little by little, one travels far.”
“Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you.”
“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”
“Smooth seas do not make a skilled mariner.”
“This too shall pass.”
“A single conversation across the table with a wise person is worth a month’s study of books.”
“An army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.”
“A boat doesn't go forward if each one is rowing their own way.”
“A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.”
“When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.”
“A bad settlement is better than a good lawsuit.”
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
“If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.”
“To understand all is to forgive all.”
“A wise man makes his own decisions; an ignorant man follows public opinion.”
“Enough is a feast.”
“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.”
“There are no miracles for those that have no faith in them.”
“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.”
“Sweat more in training, bleed less in war.”
“Trust, but verify.”
“Greatness does not approach him who is forever looking down.”
“Knowledge without wisdom is like a load of books on the back of a donkey.”
“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.”
“The palest ink is better than the best memory.”
“If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.”
“The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”
“The glutton digs his grave with his teeth.”
“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.”
“Measure twice, cut once.”
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
“The spoken word perishes; the written word remains.”
“He who buys what he does not need steals from himself.”
“He who is silent is taken to agree.”
“Sunshine all the time makes a desert.”
“Eat little, sleep sound.”
“A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.”
“Even the lion, king of the jungle, rests after the hunt.”
“A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.”
“During the day you should behave in such a way that you can sleep at night in peace; and in your youth you should behave in such a way that you can live in your old age in peace.”
“When eating fruit, remember the one who planted the tree.”
“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
“Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.”
“The man who chases two rabbits catches neither.”
“The wise man learns by the mistakes of others, the fool by his own.”
“If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.”
“Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.”
“A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.”
