Proverbial Wisdom from Lithuania
Sayings of Lithuanian origin
To be without learning, is to be without eyes.
You must get your son, your wife and your bread from your native village.
The King searches for a crumb.
God, take it in shirt and give me one in fur.
He is proud like a French dog.
Offer the lazy man an egg, and he’ll want you to peel it for him.
It’s good when a dog is a friend, it’s bad when a friend is a dog.
I can neither read, nor write, but they promise to make me a king.
He is happy like one who got a steed for present.
From a big cloud comes little rain.
About Lithuania (An excerpt from Wikipedia)
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. Lithuanians are a Baltic people. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, are the only two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.
More Lithuanian Proverbs and Sayings:
Gold glitters even in the mud.
Smoke spreads further than the fire.
Even the smallest drop is appreciated by the drunkard.
Do your best at everything you’re doing.
One main road is better than a hundred paths.
An old love does not rust.
Well begun is half done.
A man without a beard is like bread without a crust.
He lives like a Swede on his seas.
The happy do not count the hours.
For every head a hat.
If it weren’t for sorrow and bad times, every day would be Christmas.
One day teaches the other.
God gave gums, God will give granary.
Sing to the one whose cart you are riding on.
Whatever may happen the Lithuanian will not perish.
There is no need to whip docile horses.
Without pains no gains.
The shoemaker is always barefooted.
As angry as a hoopoe-bird in a swamp.
There is an herb for every kind of sickness but not for death.
What kind of parents, such children.
He eats like a beast — without having made the sign of the cross on his muzzle.
He flings about like a fairy in a corn-kiln.
He is as sad as the one whose shot wounded a dove.
Such father, such son.
He hisses like a serpent without goat-milk.
Fear and love do not go together.
It is easier to give orders than to work.
To a starving man bread is sweeter than honey.
With your head you cannot break a wall.
To whom it itches, scratches it.
Don’t be too bold, or you will burn your eyes; but don’t be too slow, or you will lose your share.
Wherewith you coincide, such you yourself will become.
It is good fishing in streamy water.
Words do not fill your purse.
He who drinks beer lives hundred years.
Dogs cannot make dreams come true — people must do that.
The beauty of a housewife will not put more fat into the soup.
He is always hungry like a child of a cuckoo in another bird’s nest.
Love without envy is like a meal without salt.
If God closes the door, He opens the window somewhere else.
He is as educated as a dog of a druggist.
Good start is a half of work
Do what’s necessary before doing anything you want.
There is no worse devil than a farmer who wants to be a gentleman.
Don’t laugh when your neighbor’s oven is on fire.
You can’t blow against the wind.
Beauty will not fill your belly.
Who gives, has.
When you are in the Devil’s wheel, you must learn how to spin.
As fast as nine winds.
Sleep on a bed of silver and dream of gold.
With the intellect of another you won’t get very far.
You cannot jump higher than your navel.
The older the goat the tighter the rope.
He who does not want to work, that cannot eat either.
He is as tenacious as a witch being drown.
He is as happy as a dove in the claws of a hawk.
As deceptive as an April morning.
The breath of others always stinks.
Life without wife is like a kitchen garden without fence.
A silent pig digs the deepest root.
A home so small it fits under a blade of grass, is still a home.
The church is nearby, God is far away.
Don’t get happy before work is completed.
God gave teeth; He will give bread.
Boasting pot is not greasy.
A shoe-maker walks barefooted.
He is standing like Philip in a field of hemp.
Even the hardest of winters fears the spring.
Teeth are like doves.
She dressed herself like an owl with the feathers of a peacock.
If you go to bed hungry, you’ll wake up without having slept.
Without gold even the daylight is dark.
As beautiful as a fairy-child.
The calm water is deep.
The calf isn’t even born yet and there he is sharpening his carving knife.
If you run from a wolf, you may run into a bear.
It is difficult to teach a cow to climb a tree.
He speaks like one who fell down from a tree.
Thrift is mother of wisdom.
A widow is lying at my side like a block of ice.
Live life without rushing; death won’t be late.
As drunk as a pig.
It fits like a fifth foot to a dog.
He sleeps as though he were killed.
You are learning all your life and you die stupid.
As one devil goes out, another one comes in.
Not all that glitters is gold; not all that is sticky is tar.
I got drunk as a bee: my legs are like quills.
Smoke in your own country is purer than fire in a foreign land.
He is as joyful as one whose path has been crossed by a flying dove.
Good eyes don’t fear smoke.
A slow sow digs out a deeper root.
Tautiška giesmė (The National Hymn) is the national anthem of Lithuania.
Lithuanian National Anthem ( English Lyrics):
Lithuania, our dear homeland,
Land of worthy heroes!
May your sons draw strength and vigor
From your past experience.
May your children always proudly
Choose the paths of virtue,
May they work towards your gain,
And that of all mankind.
May the sun of this land
Scatter all the gloom and dark,
With Truth and Light,
Guiding our steps forever.
May our love for Lithuania
Keep burning on in our hearts,
In Lithuania’s dear name,
We shall stand together!