Sayings of Serbian origin
He who drinks on credit, gets drunk twice.
When your wine is finished, conversation ends; when your money has been spent, you lose your friends.
A good reputation is better than a golden girdle.
God does not pay every Saturday.
Three times measure, one time cut.
Who does not keep a cat keeps mice.
God created the beard on himself first.
The wound heals, the scar remains.
When big bells ring, little ones are not heard.
You can judge what you make by what others make.
It is easy to tempt a frog to the river.
A good deed is the best form of prayer.
No resolution without discussion.
Walk the walk, then talk the talk.
An empty knapsack is heavier to carry than a full one.
Better to blush once than pale a hundred times.
A dead man pays no debts.
Mother earth promised to tell her secrets to heaven.
The glory of ancestors should not prevent a man winning glory for himself.
You don’t need a candle to look for a fool.
A greedy father has thieves for children.
The just man laughs and the guilty hides himself.
A thorn pierces young skin more quickly than old.
What is it to be a gentleman? Firstly it is to be thankful and secondly to complain.
A foolish fox is caught by one leg, but a wise one by all four.
The Republic of Serbia
Serbia is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads between Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Serbia is landlocked and borders Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; Macedonia to the south; and Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro to the west; it also claims a border with Albania through the disputed territory of Kosovo. The capital of Serbia, Belgrade, is one of the largest cities in Southeast Europe. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents.
Serbian is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language used chiefly by Serbs in Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, it is a recognized minority language in Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. (An excerpt from Wikipedia)
More Serbian Proverbs & Sayings
We won the war, but lost peace.
All returns – everything comes back.
Think before you speak.
Jealousy and fear have big eyes.
When a stepmother moves in, the father becomes a stepfather.
Sleeping over can make problems be solved easier.
Peace pays what war wins.
Let war be waged in the house of him who wants it.
What is play to horses is death to donkeys.
When coins rattle, philosophers are silent.
Even the devil knows what is right, but he will not do it.
If you can’t hold on to the horse’s mane then don’t try to hang on to its tail.
You never get a headache from winning.
Warm bed, cold food.
The miser ends by giving more, and the lazy man by going further .
Tell the truth and make thyself scarce
Everyone is worth more than his neighbor and less than his son.
It is difficult to find a man but it’s easy to recognize him.
It is not at the table but in prison that you learn who your true friends are.
Money and the devil know no rest.
What is the use of a big wide world when your shoes are too small?
What makes you tired makes you stronger.
Where right is of no use wrong will not avail.
It is easy to advise the wise.
To serve our elders is a duty, our equals it is polite, but serving the young is humiliating.
A man without enemies is worthless.
Better retreat in honor than advance in disgrace.
Actions speak, not words.
To believe is easier than investigation.
One devil does not scratch out another devil’s eyes.
Missing the forest because of the trees.
Do not measure the wolf’s tail till he is dead.
If there is a rumor, there must be some truth behind it.
It is better to be threatened by the sword of a Turk than by the pen of a German.
A clean pig makes lean bacon.
A new broom brushes his targets well.
The first marriage is a plate of honey, the second a glass of wine, and the third is a cup of poison.
When the sun shines on me I think but little of the moon.
No trade without tools.
After a trial one party is naked and the other without a shirt.
A wife is frightened of her first husband and a husband is frightened of his second wife.
Time builds castles, and time destroys them.
To set fire to a church is not so bad as to speak ill of a virgin.
Where there are no dogs the wolves will howl.
Solitude is full of God.
Quick to believe is quickly deceived.
It is easier to believe than to go and ask.
There’s nothing worse than a person looking for a quarrel.
A tree near the road is easily cut down.
It is better to make money in the straw market than to lose it in the money market.
It does no harm now and then to burn a candle for the devil.
“Bože pravde” “God of Justice” is the national anthem of Serbia
Serbian National Anthem ( English Lyrics):
God of Justice; Thou who saved us
when in deepest bondage cast,
Hear Thy Serbian children’s voices,
Be our help as in the past.
With Thy mighty hand sustain us,
Still our rugged pathway trace;
God, our hope; protect and cherish,
Serbian lands and Serbian race!
Bind in closest links our kindred
Teach the love that will not fail,
May the loathed fiend of discord
Never in our ranks prevail.
Let the golden fruits of union
Our young tree of freedom grace;
God, our Master! Guide and prosper,
Serbian lands and Serbian race!
Lord! Avert from us Thy vengeance,
Thunder of Thy dreaded ire;
Bless each Serbian town and hamlet,
Mountain, meadow, heart and spire!
When our host goes forth to battle
Death or victory to embrace-
God of armies! Be our leader,
Strengthen then the Serbian race!
On our sepulchre of ages
Breaks the resurrection morn,
From the slough of direst slavery
Serbia anew is born.
Through five hundred years of durance
We have knelt before Thy face,
All our kin, O God! Deliver,
Thus entreats the Serbian race!
