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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“Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart.”
“Success and rest don’t sleep together.”
“Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes.”
“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.”
“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.”
“The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.”
“With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.”
“Let go, or be dragged.”
“This too shall pass.”
“He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything.”
“A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.”
“He that takes medicine and neglects diet wastes the skill of the physician.”
“The glutton digs his grave with his teeth.”
“Eat little, sleep sound.”
“Sweat more in training, bleed less in war.”
“Even the lion, king of the jungle, rests after the hunt.”
“A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.”
“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.”
“A wise man makes his own decisions; an ignorant man follows public opinion.”
“As you think, you travel, and as you love, you attract.”
“Enough is a feast.”
“When eating fruit, remember the one who planted the tree.”
“If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.”
“Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement.”
“We cannot see our reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.”
“To hear something a hundred times is not as good as seeing it once.”
“A single conversation across the table with a wise person is worth a month’s study of books.”
“To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.”
“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
“Knowledge without wisdom is like a load of books on the back of a donkey.”
“Greatness does not approach him who is forever looking down.”
“Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.”
“There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is being superior to your previous self.”
“Promise little and do much.”
“Trust, but verify.”
“To understand all is to forgive all.”
“An army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.”
“Arrogance diminishes wisdom.”
“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.”
“There are no miracles for those that have no faith in them.”
“Vision without action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare.”
“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”
“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.”
“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”
“Little by little, one travels far.”
“Measure twice, cut once.”
“The wise man learns by the mistakes of others, the fool by his own.”
“If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.”
“The man who chases two rabbits catches neither.”
“Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.”
