Proverbial Wisdom from Syria
Sayings of Syrian origin
Patience is the key to relief.
The cloth of shame does not warm and if it does, it does so only briefly
When we decided to trade coffins, people decided not to die.
Tell me your friends, and I’ll tell you who you are.
The land is cultivated by its own oxen.
In every village there is a path that leads to the mill.
Turn the pot upside down; the girl will still be like her mother.
Dwell not upon thy weariness, thy strength shall be according to the measure of thy desire.
With the lack of horses, we saddle the dogs!
God sends almonds to those without teeth!
About Syria (An excerpt from Wikipedia)
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia. De jure Syrian territory borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.
A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Circassians, Mandeans and Turks. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Mandeans and Yazidis. Sunni Arabs make up the largest population group in Syria.
In English, the name “Syria” was formerly synonymous with the Levant (known in Arabic as al-Sham), while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the 3rd millennium BC.
Damascus is the capital and the second-largest city, nicknamed as the City of Jasmine. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious center of the Levant.
Arabic is the official language. Several modern Arabic dialects are used in everyday life, most notably Levantine in the west and Mesopotamian in the northeast. Kurdish is widely spoken in the Kurdish regions of Syria. Armenian and Turkish are spoken among the Armenian and Turkmen minorities.
Aramaic was the lingua franca of the region before the advent of Arabic, and is still spoken among Assyrians, and Classical Syriac is still used as the liturgical language of various Syriac Christian denominations. Most remarkably, Western Neo-Aramaic is still spoken in the village of Ma’loula as well as two neighboring villages, 56 km (35 mi) northeast of Damascus.
More Syrian Proverbs & Sayings:
Birth is the messenger of death.
Writing is the mother of eloquence and the father of artists.
Stretch your legs according to your quilt.
The rope of a lie is short.
It’s better to deal with the devil we know than the devil we don’t know.
A strong chicken starts to crow the moment that it comes out of the shell.
Be not water, taking the tint of all colors.
When you are dead, your sister’s tears will dry as time goes on, your widow’s tears will cease in another’s arms, but your mother will mourn you until she dies.
No one cries for losing money but the one who earned the money, no one cries for losing the child but his mother.
Let the water melons break each other!
Kiss any arm you cannot break, and pray to God to break it.
When the lions are away, the hyenas play.
Choose the neighbor before the house.
Whoever gets between the onion and its skin will get nothing but its stink.
In the eye of his mother, a monkey is a gazelle.
A little spark can kindle a great fire.
The zawan of your own country is better than the wheat of strangers.
The camel limped from its split lip.
Like a snake under the hay.
A beggar and he bargains!
The son of a duck is a floater.
Even paradise is no fun without people.
What is past is dead
If your friend is honey, don’t lick him all.
you buy cheap meat you’ll be sorry when you come to the gravy.
Where many roosters are crowing it’s dawn.
A narrow place can contain a thousand friends.
Keep away from trouble and sing to it.
Ask one who has experience rather than a physician.
Let it wound your heart rather than go out and cause a scandal.
He hit me and cried, he raced me to complain!
It is not every time that the clay pot survives.
A borrowed mule soon gets a bad back.
He who has his hand in the water is not like him who has his hand in the fire.
The eloquent rooster crows from the egg.
It is an easy thing to find a staff to beat a dog.
A small house is enough room for a thousand friends.
The mouse fell from the ceiling, and the cat cried “Allah!”.
It is cruelty to the innocent not to punish the guilty.
The person who deals in camels should make the doors high.
My brother and I against my cousin; my cousin and I against a stranger.
If you conduct yourself properly, fear no one.
Marry the girl of a good family though she be seated on a mat.
He hit me and cried, he raced me to complain.
When the wolf invites you in, you had better take your dog.
He married the monkey for its money, the money went and the monkey stayed a monkey.
An ignorant person is simply an enemy to himself.
Even a soft speech has its own poison.
A better one in another one.
We taught them how to beg, they raced us to the gates.
A virgin may travel alone at midnight and be safe, and a purse of gold dropped in the road at midday will never be stolen.
He is like a deaf man at a wedding procession.
All ways lead to the mill.
Spend what is in your pocket; you will get more from the unknown.
Let your money be insulted but not yourself.
Girl, do not exult in thy wedding dress; see how much trouble lurks behind it.
Every knot has someone to undo it.
Haste is the devil’s work and patience is from the Merciful God.
As you went, so you came back.
A bird in the hand is better than ten on the tree.
A man’s shirt does not change the color of his skin.
When your neighbor shaves, you start to wet your cheeks.
O’departing one, leave behind good deeds!.
“Humat Addiyar” or “Guardians of the Homeland” is the national anthem of Syria.
Syrian National Anthem (English Lyrics) :
Guardians of the homeland, upon you be peace,
[our] proud spirits refuse to be humiliated.
The den of Arabism is a sacred sanctuary,
and the throne of the suns is a preserve that will not be subjugated.
The quarters of Levant are towers in height,
which are in dialogue with the zenith of the skies.
A land resplendent with brilliant suns,
becoming another sky or almost a sky.
The flutter of hopes and the beat of the heart,
are on a flag that united the entire country.
Is there not blackness from every eye,
and ink from every martyr’s blood?
[Our] spirits are defiant and [our] history is glorious,
and our martyrs’ souls are formidable guardians.
From us is “Al-Walid” and from us is “ar-Rashid”,
so why wouldn’t we prosper and why wouldn’t we build?