Sayings of Slovak origin
Without caution even cleverness is futile.
Want is the most resourceful master.
One swallow creates no summer.
The flour tastes bitter to the mouse that has had enough.
He who blows into the wind gets smoke in his eyes.
He who digs a pit for others, will fall in it himself.
The face – the picture of the soul.
Have one’s hearth in one’s mouth.
There is truth in vine.
Compulsory prayers never reach heaven.
It keeps floating about on my tongue.
Fear is worse than misfortune itself.
Fine work is its own flattery.
Even a giant oak was once an acorn.
Tighten your eardrums and give heed!
Wife should never be selected by candlelight.
Every man is the smith of his own fortune.
Empty barrel rumbles the most.
Honest labor is a form of prayer.
A kind word is better than cash.
Others read your face, God your heart.
Man is the head and woman is the crown upon it.
Gold without wisdom is but clay.
Who buys cheap pays twice.
A good beginning is half the job
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
Still waters run deep.
Don’t praise what is yours; don’t belittle what is another’s.
A handful of friendship is better than a wagon load of gold.
If there was no sin, there would be no hell.
Everything bad is good for something.
Where there’s a will there’s a way.
He who does not work is without food.
Anger is the only thing to put off until tomorrow.
If God be unwilling, man can do nothing.
The gates of hell are always open, even at midnight.
Better is a sparrow in the hand than a pigeon on the roof.
What you reap is what you sow.
There’s no place like home.
Misfortune teaches us to pray.
He who accepts favors, pawns his freedom.
Where there is no order, everything is headed toward collapse.
He who lives nearest the church, always comes the latest.
The busy care little about gossip.
The darkness is deepest under the lamp.
Who is not grateful for a little does not deserve more.
Gratitude and wheat grow only in good soil.
Cabbage is best after it is reheated seven times.
Patience and time overcomes all things.
Consider each day as your best day.
Big fish eat little fish.
The truth rises to the surface like oil on water.
Habit is the second nature.
You never know whom you may need.
With truth you can travel the farthest.
A spark produces its brightest glow just before it dies out.
Bad news travels fast.
The sun loves to peer into the home where love is.
Each of us is the forger of his own happiness.
Virtue and beauty are a blessed association.
The best advice is found on the pillow.
One is apt to fall into the hole which he digs for another.
Birds of the same feather flock together.
The way you call into the mountain is the way the echo will sound.
If youth knew and old age could.
If you don’t use your head you have to use your feet.
The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.
There is no wise response to a foolish remark.
Out of sight, out of mind.
A stitch in time saves nine.
Measure ten times before you cut once.
A fool learns only at his own expense.
It was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
Barter like a gypsy, but pay like a gentleman
He can neither see nor hear from joy.
Do not regard as your own anything you may lose.
A sound mind in a sound body
Even God does not satisfy all people.
The thing we fear, we soon dream about.
A good conscience makes a soft pillow.
Anger is an evil counselor.
The one who first shuts up in an argument is from a good family.
Evil herb never dies out.
Better to eat bread in peace, then cake amid turmoil.
No work – no cake.
Time and patience bring roses.
Kill your anger while it is small.
God is not impatient but mindful. .
The strong wipe their brows, the crafty their lips.
You learn to know a man when you drink with him.
What eyes don’t see, heart doesn’t hurt.
Debt is worse than poverty.
Time Heals All Wounds.
Help yourself and God will help you.
Custom and law are sisters.
Better a lean settlement than a fat litigation.
Not he who begins but he who finishes is the master.
Love makes the world go round.
Slow but sure wins the race.
Drowning man will even hold a straw.
We disregard what we’ve got, always chasing what we’ve not.
His judgment has fallen down into his boots.
Live and let live.
In the darkness all cows are black.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
No one is born wise.
Love need no laws.
Don’t anger one to whom you must apologize tomorrow.
Lies have short legs.
It is easier to criticize than to create.
Better an hour of thought than a year of regret.
Barking dogs seldom bite.
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a country in Central Europe.
It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. Slovakia is a member of the European Union, Eurozone, Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD and the WTO. The official language is Slovak, a member of the Slavic language family.
External link to Wikipedia page on Slovakia for further reading
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 500,000, the country’s largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia, occupying both banks of the River Danube and the left bank of the River Morava. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.
Lightning over the Tatras (Nad Tatrou sa blýska) is the national anthem of Slovakia.
Lyrics:
There is lightning over the Tatras
Thunders loudly sound
Let us stop them, brothers
After all they will disappear
The Slovaks will revive
That Slovakia of ours
Had been sleeping by now
But the thunder’s lightnings
Are rousing the land
to wake it up
Slovakia is already rising
Tearing off Her shackles
Hey, dear family
The hour has struck
Mother Glory3 is alive
Firs4 are still growing
On the slopes of Kriváň5
Who feels to be a Slovak
Let him take a sabre
And stand among us
