I just read a bunch of proverbs from around the world. Here are some that connect with me:
“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today.” (Chinese)
“The beginning of health is to know the disease.” (Spanish)
“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.” (Indian)
“Wherever the heart is, the feet don’t hesitate to go.” (Togo)
Here’s one my buddy Charles Senteio shared with me:
A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under which they will never sit.
– Greek Proverb
Always drink upstream from the herd.
Sorry–someone at work had that Cowboys proverbs book…..(don’t squat on your spurs, etc….)
Hope this doesn’t get your commenters off track, Mike.
Glad you’re back.
ss
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
- Chinese Proverb
“Plan your work. Work your plan. Praise God when he changes everything.” Restoration House Ministries helpful advice to their church plant partners in New England.
In and Out, Nobody Gets Hurt (Saturday Night Live).
Sorry Mike. Long Week and it is Friday, so had to go along with Sarah.
On the “teach a man to fish” notion, here at CDM we say, “It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fist, but best of all is ‘pond ownership’ or at least a key to the gate.”
My own proverbs I have developed regarding my adult sons’ “stuff”:
It may effect me, but it doesn’t have to control me.
It’s not the letting go that hurts, it’s the holding on.
My job as a parent is over, except to love them and to pray for them.
(And the one that keeps me from sinking back into depression)
It’s not my stuff!
“The older the violin, the sweeter the music.”
From the great American philosopher Augustus McCrae.
It’s tough to make predictions,
especially about the future. — Yogi Berra
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” (African)
No matter how well you treat people in life, the size of your funeral will always depend on the weather.
Larry James - Please tell me that’s a typo about the ‘fist’!!!!
One of my favorites from Jack Handey….sorry, I couldn’t resist.
To me, it’s always a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you
walk around. That way, if anybody says, “Hey, can you give me a hand?,” you
can say, “Sorry, got these sacks.”
“You can’t complain about what you permit.”
Life is full on Inequities…….Paul Woolard, daily to his kids (actually borrowed this from a colleague, who undoubtably copied from somewhere else)
“You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.” -Abraham Lincoln (Kind of reminds me of that fish quote from Beaner)
“In the noble pursuit of being broad minded, don’t become so open minded that your brains fall out or so close minded that you stifle your own growth.” -Kelley Smith
“Wow, that’s just about all she could say. Wow.” - Lily from Kevin Henkes’ “Lily and the Purple Plastic Purse.”
“the quickest way to spoil a friendship is to wake somebody up in the morning before he is ready.”- The old sheep in “Charlotte’s Web.
“As you slide down the bannister of life, my the splinters never face the wrong direction.”
“May the smile of God light you to glory.” Both Old Irish Proverbs
My dearly departed mom always said “Use your head and you’ll save your heels”
My dad still says “You can’t outgive the Lord”
Sorry, got to go with Dr. Phil….sagely advise for any occasion.
“So, how’s that working for you”
“If you pray for rain, be ready to deal with the mud.” ~ Abe Lincoln
“Keep the shiny side up and miss all the bridge ends” ~What my grandfather said to me everytime I got behind the wheel of a car. Exactly what is a bridge end?
Never criticize a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes That way, you are a mile away and you have his shoes.
“You can’t always get what you want” -Mick Jagger
I have to tell my kids that one weekly if not daily.
PaulW I actually remember that SNL skit: dut-dut-duh, dut-dut-dut-duh.
Another funny one from the past:
“‘All we are is dust in the wind,’ dude” -Ted Theodore Logan
Here’s one that I use with my kids when they whine about stuff or they’re upset about trivial things or I’ve just reached the end of my patience. It’s in Spanish but it’s powerful, it will work wonders: galletas duras. translation: Tough Cookies. They know what it means.
Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice. - H. L. Mencken
“Stop rubbing your eyes, and whatever you do, never, ever put your contact lenses in your mouth.”
–Mike the Eyeguy, about 20 times a day.
my two favorites:
Believing that the world will treat you fairly because you are a good person is the same as believing that the bull will not charge at you because you are a vegetarian (American proverb); and
If you sit by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will eventually float by (Turkish proverb).
Of course, the trick is to be able to sit there long enough!
No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
- Antoine de Saint Exupery
“When in doubt —— Don’t (do it or say it).”
My dearly departed husband loved to give a 180 to adages/proverbs/fables - such as:
“Don’t do to today what you can put off ’till tomorrow.”
And my Sooner grandmother always advised us,
“If you want someone to do something for you, ask them. If they say “no” you’re no different than you were, but what if they say “yes” - so ask!
She lived to 103. In her last years, she often observed how addicted to exercise we are.
Her retort was, “Exercise will kill ya’. What’s people need is to get out and WORK.”
This from a gal that mowed a 1/2 acre of lawn with an old fashioned push lawn mower until she was nearly 90.
The Arabs in Zanzibar know themselves by what they wear on their heads
- Giriama Proverb (Kenya)
From Mexico, probably the most observed of all their many proverbs. Friday the thirtheenth holds no fear for them, but…
“El martes trece ni te cases ni viajes”
“On Tuesday the thirteenth, neither marry nor travel.”
Where there’s a will… there’s a death.
“It is not the critic who counts; nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles…. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood… who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” — Teddy Roosevelt
My favorite church marque quote (from a church three blocks from our house a few years ago):
“Read your Bible. It’ll scare the Hell out of you!”
I really enjoyed reading all these proverbs. Here’s one more:
When all is said & done, more is said than done.
“Love all, serve all.” hard rock cafe. tho I believe they might have lifted it from some formerly dead guy from Galilee.
Don’t know if this is a proverb, but my mom and dad use to say “Use your head for something other than a hat rack”.
“Where there’s a will, there’s usually a lawsuit!”
realized in the middle of announcements this a.m. that mine, tho pithy, was not a proverb. sorry.
A rough translation of an African proverb from here in Benin (W. Africa):
“Unless your feet hurt, you haven’t waited long enough.”
The explanation was that sometimes we can say we are patiently waiting for something, but in reality we are often running around all over the place looking for the answer, solution, or right path and usually doing so claiming “doing SOMETHING is better than just sitting here.” The wise African brother had me illustrate this by standing in one place for a long time until finally the bottoms of my feet really did began to ache. He then said, “now, you’ve really waited.” (This was a “teachable moment” after one of my petty American tirades on having to “wait” on something…which by the way was in reality a very short time.)
-Randy V.
Mike, I read these in Christianity Today as well and for some reason the one that struck me was the one about being born and dying and the reverse crying and rejoicing. I’d already decided to cut it out and post it.
“At my house, we eat desert first. There’s rarely room after the meal.” ~ My wife’s grandmother