Kurdish Proverbs


• A cup of coffe commits one of forty years of friendship.
• A fool dreams of wealth, a wise man, of happiness.
• A good companion shortens the longest road.
• A heart in love with beauty never grows old.
• A hungry stomach has no ears.
• A kind word warms a man trough three winters.
• A knife-wound heals, but a tounge-wound festers.
• A man is as wise as his head, not his years.
• A man is judged by his work.
• A neighbours hen looks as big as a goose, and his wife as young as a girl.
• A red apple invites stones.
• A small key opens big doors.
• A thousand friends are too few; one enemy is one too many.
• A tribulation is better than a hundred warnings.
• A visitor comes with ten blessings, eats one, and leaves nine.
• A wise man does his own work.
• A wise man remembers his friends all times; a fool, only when he has need of them.
• Ability has no school.
• Activity breeds prosperity.
• An illness comes by the pound and goes away by the ounce.
• An open door invites callers.
• At table keep short hand; in company keep a short tounge.
• Beauty passes; wisdom remains.
• Better a calf of one's own than a jointly owned cow.
• Better a wise foe than a foolish friend.
• Both the hunter and the hunted rely on God.
• Do not roll up your trousers before reaching the stream.
• Do what your theacher says but not what he does.
• Dogs bark, but the caravan goes on.
• Eat and drink with your friends but do not trade with them.
• Empty words will not fill an empty stomach.
• Even the highest tree has an axe waiting at its foot.
• Every "bad" has its "worse".
• Every sheep is hung by his own leg.
• Fear an ignorant man more than a lion
• For every wise man there in one still wiser
• Give nine, save ten.
• God finds a low branch for the bird that cannot fly.
• God has created us brothers but has given us separate purses.
• Guests bring good luck with them.
• Habit is worse then rabies.
• If God closes one door, He opens a thousand others.
• If skill could be gained by watching, every dog would become a butcher.
• If you are an anvil, be patient; if you are a hammer, be strong.
• If you give him cloth, he'll ask for the lining.
• If you wish to do a good deed, consult no one.
• In a flat country a hillock thinks itself a mountain.
• It is easier to make a camel jump a ditch then to make a fool listen to reason.
• It is easy to catch a serpent with someone else's hand.
• It is easy to say "Come" difficult do say "Go".
• It is more difficult to contend with oneself then with the world.
• Kind words will unlock an iron door.
• Listen a hundred times; ponder a thousand times; speak once.
• Many will show you the way once your cart has overturned.
• No matter where you go, your destiny follows you.
• Of everything else the newest; of friends, the oldest.
• Once a friend, always a friend.
• One beats one's breast who dose not beat one's child.
• One bites his tongue who speaks in haste.
• One gives twice who gives quickly.
• One can never repay one's debt to one's mother.
• One is equally indebted to one's teacher and to go.
• Open your eyes, not your mouth.
• Part with your head, but not with your secret.
• Patience is bitter, but it bears sweet fruit.
• See with your mind; hear with your heart.
• Stairs are climbed step by step.
• Stretch you feet according to your blanket.
• Study from new books but from old teachers.
• The devil takes a hand in what is done in haste.
• The miser and the open-handed spend the same in long run.
• The rich man's wealth tires the poor man's raw.
• Thorns and roses grow on the same tree.
• Those who know do not talk; those talk do not know.
• To speak is to sow; to listen is to reap.
• What is loaned goes away smiling but returns weeping.
• What the heart thinks, the mouth speaks.
• What you give away you keep.
• When a cat wants to eat her kittens, she says they look lice mice.
• Who buys cheap buys dear.
• Whoever digs a pit for his neighbour should dig it his own size.
• Whoever is fond of cream should take the cow around with him.
• Whoever speaks evil to you of others will speak evil of you to others.
• Wish well, be well.
• With patience, mulberry leaves become satin.
• Works as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow.