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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“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”
“When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.”
“A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.”
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
“Money grows on the tree of persistence.”
“What was hard to bear is sweet to remember.”
“Sunshine all the time makes a desert.”
“The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”
“Smooth seas do not make a skilled mariner.”
“One tree does not make a forest.”
“Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.”
“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.”
“He who is silent is taken to agree.”
“Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you.”
“A bad settlement is better than a good lawsuit.”
“The palest ink is better than the best memory.”
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
“A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.”
“If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.”
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
“You can't pour from an empty cup.”
“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”
“He who buys what he does not need steals from himself.”
“Dig the well before you are thirsty.”
“The spoken word perishes; the written word remains.”
“If you don't want anyone to find out, don't do it.”
“A boat doesn't go forward if each one is rowing their own way.”
