Basque Proverbs

Sayings of Basque origin

Let us have little, but let us always have enough.
Let’s agree to disagree
Money is the best of servants, but the worst of bosses.
Not all truths are good to say.
Not having enough is like not having anything.
A good listener needs few words.
A promise is a debt, it’s always been said.
By falling, one learns to walk.
Doing nothing and doing useless work are the same.
Don’t say as much as you know, and don’t eat as much as you can.
Earth belongs to the brave but heaven to those who deserve it.
Far from the eyes, far from the heart.
For many, the truth hurts.
God didn’t make even the fingers all the same.
God is a busy worker but loves to be helped.
He who doesn’t want to hear unpleasant things, shouldn’t say unpleasant things.
If you do no wrong, you need not be afraid.
If you have much, you will need much.
If you hear something and you don’t object, people will assume that you agree.
If you say anything you want, you will hear things you don’t want to.
In an empty house, there’s nothing but anger.
It’s better to have a good reputation, than to be rich.
It’s better to have one than be waiting for two.
Lazy people are always busy.
Old people know much; they were taught by necessity.
One eye is enough for the seller, but one hundred is not too many for the buyer.
One may recover a lost sheep, but not wasted time.
One who knows, tells everything one knows.
Talking is easy, doing is hard.
The choosy one ends up with the ordinary.
The hand of the stranger is heavy.
The lazy person has no work and has no time.
The lost sheep may be recovered, the lost time cannot.
The needle dresses people but stays naked itself.
The one who loves you will make you cry, the one who hates you will make you laugh.
The one who wants everything perfect, often gets just the opposite.
The stupid find relief in the suffering of others.
The sun shines equally on the good and the bad.
There is never trust without loss.
There is no bread without pain.
Those who don’t look forward, stay behind.
Time flies when you are among friends.
Well begun, is half done.
What is in the heart, comes to the tongue.
What is seen at home is what the child learns.
With a good friend the hours are short.
With the passing of time, all things are forgotten.
You know much if you know how to live.
You will have a sad end, bird, if you don’t make your nest while you’re still young.
What the wolf does pleases his mate.
When the fox is engaging you in conversation, keep an eye on your chicken.
When there is, spend lavishly, and when there isn’t, that’s life.
Whoever crossed the river at the fordable point, knows how deep the river is.
Time goes by, and we go with it.
To do nothing or to do useless work is the same thing.
Waiting is futile for whomever wants to kiss someone’s backside.
There is no point in offering a helping hand to someone who wants to drown.
Those who have their tail made of straw are afraid of fire.
The thread must be longer than the needle.
The tree falls towards the side it’s leaning.
The truth is bitter and unpleasant.
The wolf and the dog agree about the goat — which together they eat.
The woman who takes a wolf for a husband is always looking into the wood.
There is never a lack of food for the lazy person, nor of work for the industrious.
The priest’s pot is small but tasty.
The satiated cannot see the hungry.
The sickness of the body is the cure of the mind.
The small sheep, always a lamb.
The old fox sheds its old hair, but not its old habits.
The old sayings tell no lies.
The most painful insult is the one that’s true.
The one who has a lot of time to spare, is the one who always arrives late.
The closest to the church are the farthest from paradise.
The craftsman has a bad roof.
The debts made to one’s mother are never paid.
The eagle needs feathers, and the wren does too.
The lazy person has no work, but has no time for anything else either.
Say little about what you know, and don’t say anything about what you don’t know.
Sleep with a woman and she will make sure you wake up.
Telling the truth, you may lose your friends.
My dog slaps you with his tail and bites you with his teeth.
My skin is closer to me than my shirt is.
Old bachelors and old maids are either too good or too bad.
Not able to take revenge on the donkey; take it out on the saddle.
More people are threatened than are beaten up.
In other places dogs go barefoot too.
Iron must be hammered when it’s hot.
It is the mountains that do not move to help one another; but one man surely comes to the help of another.
It is useless to hurry, once the water has already gone by.
It’s not useful closing the barn door after the horse has been stolen.
Laziness leads many people astray.
Life without friends means death without neighbors.
Health is an asset without equal.
Honey is bitter for a sore mouth.
A bleating sheep eats no grass.
A dog which belongs to two houses dies of hunger.
A face that never laughs betrays an evil heart.
A father doing good things will have a similar son.
A foreign land is a land of wolves.
A lot of donkeys means a lot of hay.
A silver hammer can open an iron gate.
A thrifty father begets a squandering son.
All things black are not coal.
An imaginary mill produces no flour.
Another’s mother is good, but our own is much better.
Beware of women with beards and men without beards.
Empty houses are full of noises.
Eyes that don’t see don’t cry.
God is good, but not crazy.
Flatterers and traders are related.

The Basque are an indigenous ethnic group who primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country, a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France. ~ More

Basque is a language isolate ancestral to the Basque people, who are indigenous to and mainly inhabit the Basque Country.