Sayings of Croatian origin
A good horse has many faults; a bad one has hardly any.
No solutions without discussions.
All things come to he who waits.
After rain comes sun.
First do your task, then talk about it
Without suffering, there is no learning.
First leap, then say: “jump”!
Crows will not pick out Crow’s eyes.
You can’t have both money and sheep.
People who make the most or the loudest threats are the least likely to take action.
Speak only the best of the dead.
It is better to be a bull for a year than a cow for a hundred years.
Who wishes war, may war be in his house.
God helps those who help themselves.
Don’t measure a wolf’s tail until he is dead.
Distrust is the mother of safety.
Do your work slowly to make sure it gets thoroughly done.
A cute lamb can suck off of two mothers.
A man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden full of weeds.
The more eggs, the thicker the soup.
When cat is absent, mice dance.
Don’t run in front of a carriage.
Gold is not everything that shines.
The way it came is the way it will go.
Do not leave for tomorrow, things you can do today.
The Republic of Croatia
Croatia is a sovereign state at the crossroads of Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital city is Zagreb, which forms one of the country’s primary subdivisions, along with its twenty counties. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles) and has diverse, mostly continental and Mediterranean climates. Croatia’s Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The country’s population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, with the most common religious denomination being Roman Catholicism.(An excerpt from Wikipedia)
Croatian is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language used by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries. It is the official and literary standard of Croatia and one of the official languages of the European Union. Croatian is also one of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a recognized minority language in Serbia, and neighbouring countries.
More Croatian Proverbs & Sayings
Save three pieces of gold and the fourth one will fall into your lap.
Lies never pay the toll.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
A suit doesn’t make a man.
You may boast to strangers, but tell the truth to your own people.
From bad father, and worse mother.
Don’t add fuel to the fire.
Newcomers are the most ambitious.
Where right has no power … there power likes to be.
Children, fools and drunken men tell the truth.
Truth’s violinist is always beaten with his own bow.
What is too much is not good even with bread.
Much more than you have sown will grow in your garden.
The morning shows how the day will be.
It is better to work in your own land than to count your money abroad.
To follow everyone is wrong, to follow no one is worse.
An empty barrel sings in the wind.
Where the army goes there is no grass.
Misfortune never comes alone.
First help yourself and then God will help you.
Without money one cannot go anywhere, not even to church.
Age and poverty are ill to bear.
Habit is a good servant, but a poor master.
The starving man will never burn his bread.
A disaster never comes alone.
An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.
He who digs a hole under someone else will fall into it himself.
Where there is smoke, there is fire too.
Three days of any guest is plenty.
Money sticks to money.
He who wakes up early, catches two fortunes.
To have bigger eyes than the stomach.
It is difficult to chase a frog into the water.
Cats hide their claws.
Trust yourself and your horse.
Polite words open iron gates.
Morning is smarter than evening.
Easy come, easy go.
Do not expect friendly reply when being obnoxious.
Even a dog will not eat a leg without flesh.
The udder of a neighbor’s cow is always bigger.
If you don’t start, you won’t finish.
Cats eat what hussies spare.
With a full belly it is easy to talk about fasting.
All truths are not to be told.
In trouble you know a hero.
Feed your horse as a friend, mount him as an enemy.
A splinter doesn’t land far from the trunk.
In lies one has short legs.
Finding a needle in a haystack.
Help the poor one for your own shame.
The sheep that bleats – loses it’s share in food.
Every bird has a hawk above it.
A fox may change its skin, but never its character.
The old lady with cakes has already passed by.
Do not criticize a gift.
The drunkard thinks of only one thing and the barman of something else.
Better a bad harvest than a bad neighbor.
Mere formal signs of being an authority does not make you one.
All’s well that ends well.
A good friend is worth more than a bad brother.
All that’s well lasts short.
A sparrow in your hand is better than a pigeon on the branch.
Better now than later.
Still water wears down mountains.
The owl mocked the tit.
God does not love those who have not suffered.
One hand washes the other.
If you take too long to choose, you will end up with the leftovers.
Better be in debt than in shame.
He who asks, need not wander.
His whole life he carried his wife on his back.
He who buys what he does not need will sell what he needs.
Many midwives, child will be lazy.
God first created a beard for himself.
Better ever than never.
One swallow does not make a spring.
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
The well fed one does not believe the hungry one.
Blood is thicker than water.
Men wishes, but god decides.
The unsettled person does not prosper.
He who laughs last has the sweetest laugh.
The devil can make a pot but he can’t make a lid.
The hunchback sees the hump of others … never his own.
Fish and visitors stink after three days.
A bad compromise is better than a good lawsuit.
Woe to him who sits upon a branch.
A honey tongue and a heart of gall.
A lie has no legs.
First sweep the ground in front of your own door.
Bad luck comes in threes.
Action instead of talking.
If sorrow would not talk it would die.
Think before you speak.
Forge while the iron is hot.
Hasten slowly.
Check before you bite if it is bread or a stone.
Nothing can be achieved without effort, suffering or hardship.
Better to prevent than to have to cure.
Good acts quiet often reward themselves.
Don’t buy a pig in a poke.
A guest will not know what fasting means.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
A covetous man does nothing that he should till he dies.
What once was up now is down and what once was down now is up
He who can, gets two.
It is necessary to take risks in order to achieve something.
The wolf changes his hair, but never his temperament.
Don’t buy a cat in a bag.
“Lijepa naša domovino” Our Beautiful Homeland is the national anthem of Croatia.
Croatian National Anthem ( English Lyrics):
Our beautiful homeland,
O heroic dearest land.
Our fathers’ ancient glory,
May you be happy for whole eternity.
Dear, you are our only glory,
Dear, you are our only one,
Dear, where you are plains,
Dear, where you are mountains.
Drava, Sava, keep on flowing,
Danube, do not lose your vigour,
Deep blue sea, tell the world,
That a Croat loves his homeland.
Whilst his fields are kissed by sunshine,
Whilst his oaks are whipped by wild winds,
Whilst his dead are sheltered by grave,
Whilst his live heart beats.