Brazilian Proverbs

Proverbial Wisdom from Brazil

• You can only take out of a bag what was already in it.
• Poverty is not a crime, but it’s better not to show it.
• God writes straight by broken lines.
• A prevented man is worth two.
• A dog bitten by a snake is afraid of sausages.
• Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
• If you want it done, do it yourself. Otherwise, ask someone else to.
• If you have a lemon, make lemonade out of it.
• He who desires everything, gets nothing.
• When you get married, you need a house.
• The cheapest things are the most expensive ones.
• Who sings throws sadness away.
• Are you in a hurry? Keep walking.
• The sun rises for everybody.
• Every one for himself, and God for all.
• Children raised, doubled work.
• No one is a prophet in his own land.
• Passed waters can’t move the mills.
• Who keeps quiet, agrees.
• Giving to poor you’re lending to God.
• A bent stick will never be straight.
• For those who know how to read, a dot may be a letter.
• If a counsel were a good thing, it wouldn’t be given, but sold.
• An old parrot can’t learn to talk.
• God is big, but the forest is bigger.
• From several possible events, the less worse happened.
• The hand that caresses is the same that stones.
• He who lives, shall see.
• Life begins at 40!
• God helps those who wake up early.
• A timely “no” beats a hasty “yes.”
• Hope is the last one to die.
• The cake is not for its baker, but for the eater.
• When one disdains, he wants to buy.
• The more one has, the more he wants.
• Wish is power.
• Never promise a poor person, and never owe a rich one.
• Love is blind, so you have to feel your way.
• Home saints can’t make miracles.
• If you don’t cry, you won’t suckle.
• He who makes a basket, makes a hundred of them.
• Who is alive, always drop in…
• Necessity makes the frog jump.
• The one who kneeled, must pray.
• The one who waits, reach.
• The poor eat meat when they bite their tongues.
• Friends are friends, business are business.
• Never say: ‘of this water I will never drink.’
• Don’t hang your hat higher than you can reach.
• Who is in the rain, wants to be wet.
• The owner’s eyes fatten the swine.
• It’s like exchanging six for half a dozen.
• Words will not pollute the soup.
• One who does not look ahead remains behind.
• Hunger is the best seasoning.
• Our union makes us stronger.
• He who knows nothing, doubts nothing.
• Like father, like son.
• A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
• By its fruits one knows the tree.
• We are all a bit crazy, ‘and doctors’ in something.
• The trees with most leaves will not necessarily produce juicy fruit.
• The joy of a poor man does not last long.
• One shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
• The thief who steals another one is forgiven for 100 years.
• Some bad things come for good.
• Nothing venture, nothing gain.
• To eat and itch, all you have to do is begin.
• The one in a hurry, will have a raw meal.
• At night all cats are brown.
• Walls have ears.
• What the eyes can’t see, the heart can’t feel.
• In a closed mouth the flies can’t come in.
• The child of a fish is a little fish.
• A sleeping fox finds no meat.
• Crime doesn’t pay.
• Between the beginning and the end there is always a middle.
• Pepper in someone else’s eyes is refreshing.
• Knowledge is power.
• One man’s happiness is another man’s sadness.
• Do not put the cart before the horse.
• Not even Jesus pleased everybody.
• Soft water can break the hardest stone.
• Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
• Who eats the meat, faces the bones.
• Hell is crowded with people of good intentions.
• In the house of a blacksmith the ornaments are made of wood.
• The saint is suspicious of too many sacrifices.
• He who has a mouth, goes to Rome.
• Don’t cry over spilt milk.
• Each head, a different judgement.
• Make an error is human, keep doing it is foolishness.
• It’s not worth undressing a saint to dress another one.
• Don’t put the cart before the oxen.
• God writes straight even on wavy lines.
• With iron you hurt, with iron you’ll be hurt.
• One whose roof is made of glass shouldn’t shoot stones his neighbor’s.
• Too much alms, the saint will be suspicious.
• Money alone can’t make one happy.
• The earth is not thirsty for the blood of the warriors but for the sweat of man’s labor.
• While there’s life, there’s hope.
• A wise man learns at the fool’s expense.
• Dirty clothes are washed at home.
• You cannot cover up the sun with a sieve.
• Goodwill makes the road shorter.
• He who wants everything loses everything.
• If you’re guilt, don’t be afraid.
• Where blood has been shed the tree of forgiveness cannot grow.
• If it were ever to rain soup, the poor would only have forks.
• Don’t carry all your eggs in one basket.
• The opportunity makes the thief.
• If god does not grant you glory, be content with fame.
• At home saints never perform miracles.
• There’s no good that lasts forever nor evil that never ends.
• Don’t call the alligator a big-mouth till you have crossed the river.
• In a quarrel between a husband and his wife, keep away.
• The worst blind is the one who doesn’t want to see.
• Haste is the mother of imperfection.
• There’s always an old pair of slippers for the tired feet.
• Old monkeys don’t put their hand in jars.
• A scalded cat is afraid of water.
• Money doesn’t sprout on trees.
• He who plays with pigs, will eat with them.
• An old man with a torn sleeve never dishonored anyone.
• Who tells a tale, tells his own version.
• Habits make monks.
• As long as I am running my father will still have a son.
• He who warns is a true friend.
• If you don’t have a dog, you hunt with a cat.
• After the storm comes the easiness.
• Others will measure you with the same rod you use to measure them.
• For every ailing foot, there is a slipper.
• If you can’t beat them, join them.
• The one who left, lost his place.
• Love should be paid with love.
• In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is a king.
• Never poke a jaguar with a short stick.
• He who knows, knows. He who doesn’t know, claps his hands.
• Better droping than dry.
• Appearances are deceiving.
• Not only of bread will the man live.
• Better preventing than fixing.
• The grass is always greener on your neighbor’s yard.
• Each monkey on its own branch.
• When the cucumber is small, you can warp it easier.
• Much laughter, short wisdom.
• A timely “no” beats a hasty “yes.”
• If marriage were a good thing, there would be no witnesses.

Republic of Brazil

Brazil is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the world’s fifth-largest country by both area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas.Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 km (4,655 mi).It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile and covers 47.3% of the continent’s land area. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to diverse wildlife, a variety of ecological systems, and extensive natural resources spanning numerous protected habitats. (An excerpt from Wikipedia)

Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, and is widely spoken by most of population. Brazilian Sign Language is also a official language, minority languages include indigenous languages, and languages of more recent European and Asian immigrants.

Brasíliais the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is atop the Brazilian highlands in the country’s center-western region.

“Hino Nacional Brasileiro” is The Brazilian National Anthem

Brazilian National Anthem ( English Lyrics):

The placid banks of the Ipiranga heard
The resounding cry of a heroic folk
And the sun of Liberty in shining beams
Shone in the homeland’s sky at that instant.

If the pledge of this equality
We managed to conquer with strong arm,
In thy bosom, O Freedom,
Our chest defies death itself!

O beloved,
Idolized homeland,
Hail, hail!

Brazil, an intense dream, a vivid ray
Of love and hope descends to earth
If in thy comely, smiling and limpid sky
The image of the (Southern) Cross blazes.

Giant by thine own nature,
Thou art beautiful, thou art strong, a fearless colossus,
And thy future mirrors that greatness.

Adored Land
Amongst a thousand others
Art thou, Brazil,
O beloved homeland!

Of the sons of this ground
Thou art kind mother,
Beloved homeland,
Brazil!

Eternally lying on a splendid cradle,
To the sound of the sea and under deep sky light
Thou flarest, O Brazil, crocket of America,
Illuminated by the sun of New World!

Than the showiest land,
Thy smiling, pretty prairies have more flowers
“Our groves have more life”,
“Our life” in thy bosom “more loves”. (*)

O beloved,
Idolized homeland,
Hail, hail!

Brazil, of eternal love be a symbol
The starred labarum which thou displayst
And say the laurel-green of thy pennant
‘Peace in the future and glory in the past.’

But if thou raisest the strong cudgel of justice,
Thou wilt see that a son of thine flees not from battle,
Nor do those who love thee fear their own death.

Beloved Land,
Amongst a thousand others
Art thou, Brazil,
O beloved homeland!

Of the sons of this ground
Thou art kind mother,
Beloved homeland,
Brazil!