Yiddish proverbs

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Proverbs in the Yiddish language.

[edit] With original Yiddish

• וואָס לענגער אַ בלינדער לעבט, אַלץ מער זעט ער.
  • Vos lenger a blinder lebt, alts mer zet er.
  • Translation: The longer a blind man lives, the more he sees.

• אַז מען לעבט, דערלעבט מען
  • "Az men lebt, derlebt men."
  • Translation: When one lives, one experiences. i.e With life comes experience.

• גאָט האַט באַשאַפן אַ וועלט מיט וועלטעלעך.
  • Got hot bashafn a velt mit veltelekh.
  • Translation: God created a world full of small worlds.

• קיינער זעט נישט זיין אייגענעם הויקער
  • "Keiner zet nisht zayn eigenerm hoyker."
  • Translation: No one sees his own hunchback. i.e No one sees his own faults.

• מענטש טראַכט, גאָט לאַכט.
  • Mentsch tracht, Gott lacht.
  • Translation: Man plans, God laughs.

[edit] Without original Yiddish

• A dead man is mourned seven days; a fool, his lifetime.
• A fool is his own informer.
• A good friend you get for nothing, an enemy you have to buy.
• A heavy purse makes a light heart.
• A shlemiel lands on his back, and bruises his nose.
• An imaginary ailment is worse than a disease.
• God is an honest payer, but a very slow one.
• God loves the poor and helps the rich.
• God will provide. If only God would provide until He provides!
• Hope may give a man strength, but not sense.
• If I dealt in candles, the sun wouldn't set; if I dealt in shrouds, people would stop dying.
• If the head doesn't work it's bad news for the legs.
• If the rich could hire someone to die for them, the poor would make a wonderful living.
• If you have nothing to lose, you can try anything.
• If you lie on the ground, you can't fall.
• If you seek a reputation for wisdom, agree with everyone.
• It is far easier to spot faults in another than virtues in oneself.
• It is the kindness and not the harshness in the headmaster’s voice that pushes tough boys to cry.
• Life is the cheapest bargain--you get it for nothing.
• Love is blind; jealousy sees too much.
• Love your neighbor, even if he plays the trombone.
• May God protect you from goyisha hands and yiddishe tongues.
• Money is round, so it rolls away.
• No man suffers from another's sins--he has enough of his own.
• Once poor, never rich.
• One good deed has many claimants.
• Rejoice not at your enemy's fall, but don't pick him up, either.
• Some people are like new shoes--the cheaper they are, the louder they squeak!
• Spare us what we can learn to endure.
• The girl who can't dance says the band can't play.
• The heaviest thing in the world is an empty pocket.
• The whole world is a big town.
• Treat me like a rabbi; watch me like a thief.
• Understanding is something we're sure the other fellow hasn't got.
• We have far greater compassion for another's misfortune than our pleasure in another's good fortune.
• What you don't see with your eyes, don't invent with your tongue.
• You can't force anyone to love you or lend you money.
• Your health comes first--you can always hang yourself later.
• Confidence is half of victory.
• God made man because he loves stories.
• A good enemy is better than a bad friend. (Transliteration: Besser a Gutter Soineh Aider a Shlecter Freint.)

[edit] Bibliography

• Ayalti, Hanan J., (ed.), Yiddish Proverbs, New York, 1949.
• Bernstein, Ignaz and B. W. Segel, Jiddische Sprichwörter, Frankfurt a. M., 1908.
• King, Alan, Alan King's Jewish Joke Book, Crown; 1st edition (October, 2002)