Sayings of Dominican origin
Dominican Proverbs
Appearance can be deceiving. A wolf can disguise himself as a sheep.
A good surgeon must have a hawk’s eye, a lion’s heart and a woman’s hand.
The way of this world is to praise dead saints and persecute living ones.
It is a fine thing to command, though it be only a herd of cattle.
If you drink Brugal (rum) you either fight or have sex.
One nail raises another nail.
By trying is how you will know.
Don’t be like the shadow: a constant companion, yet not a comrade.
Never say from that water I will never drink.
Until the nail is hit, it doesn’t believe in the hammer.
The rain that is going to fall doesn’t wet you.
If fate throws a knife at you, there are two ways of catching it: by the blade or by the handle.
After the excuses were given, everybody got along fine.
Make do with what is available.
The devil always paints himself black, but we always see him rose-colored.
Life has always been a mixture of joy and pain, wealth and poverty.
To overcome many problems, to go over the waterfalls on a bicycle.
Shine now for your day will come.
Neither with God or the Devil.
When you are really hungry no bread is too hard to eat.
Nicknames are used in case the Devil comes asking for you.
If you can buy the cow by the pound why buy the entire cow?
What goes around comes around.
He who hangs out with a dog will learn how to bark.
Absence is the enemy of love; as the distance is from the eyes, so it is from the heart.
The Dominican Republic is a sovereign state on the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western three-eighths of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of twoCaribbean islands, along with Saint Martin, that are shared by two countries. Both by area and population the Dominican Republic is the second-largest Caribbean nation (after Cuba), with 48,445 square kilometres (18,705 sq mi) and nearly 10 million people, one million of whom live in the capital city Santo Domingo.
Christopher Columbus landed on the island on December 5, 1492, which the Taíno people had inhabited since the 7th century. It became the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas; namely Santo Domingo, the oldest continuously inhabited city and the first seat of the Spanish colonial rule in the New World.
Santo Domingo, officially Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic and the largest city in the Caribbean by population. The city lies within the boundaries of the Distrito Nacional (“D.N.”, “National District”), itself bordered on three sides by Santo Domingo Province. It is also the second largest city in Central America, behind Guatemala City.
The population of the Dominican Republic is mostly Spanish-speaking. The local informal and conversational Spanish is called Dominican Spanish, which closely resembles other Spanish vernaculars in the Caribbean and the Canarian Spanish.
Haitian Creole is the largest minority language in the Dominican Republic, and is spoken by Haitian immigrants and their descendants.
“Isle of Beauty, Isle of Splendour” is the popular title for the national anthem of the Commonwealth of Dominica.
Lyrics:
Isle of beauty, isle of splendour,
Isle to all so sweet and fair,
All must surely gaze in wonder
At thy gifts so rich and rare.
Rivers, valleys, hills and mountains,
All these gifts we do extol.
Healthy land, so like all fountains,
Giving cheer that warms the soul.
Dominica, God hath blest thee
With a clime benign and bright,
Pastures green and flowers of beauty
Filling all with pure delight,
And a people strong and healthy,
Full of godly reverent fear.
May we ever seek to praise Thee
For these gifts so rich and rare.
Come ye forward, sons and daughters
Of this gem beyond compare.
Strive for honour, sons and daughters,
Do the right, be firm, be fair.
Toil with hearts and hands and voices.
We must prosper! Sound the call,
In which ev’ryone rejoices,
“All for Each and Each for All.”