Proverbs and Sayings from Wales
Better a friend at court than gold on the finger.
Whilst kicking and biting, love develops.
Everything that glitters is not gold.
To become a leader, you must help others achieve their aims.
Old age will not come alone.
All waiting is long.
He who has no faults is not born.
The greater the hurry, the more obstacles there are.
When the steersmen are many the ship will sink.
Be honorable yourself if you wish to associate with honorable people.
Every flock has its black sheep.
The best knowledge is knowledge of oneself.
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Located on the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of coastline and is largely mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon, its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate.
Cardiff is the capital and largest city in Wales and the tenth largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is the country’s chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for Wales.
The two official languages of Wales are Welsh and English. Under Welsh law, Welsh and English have equal status.
(An excerpt from Wikipedia)
More Welsh Proverbs & Sayings
Anger is the mother of treachery.
The strength of a nation is its knowledge.
The achievement of all work is practice.
A youth’s promise is like the froth of water.
The seed of all evil is laziness.
Everything you have in this world is only borrowed for a short time.
If every fool wore a crown, we should all be kings.
The strength of the old is their ready counsel.
Memory slips, letters remain.
You must crawl before walking.
No good will come of over sleeping.
He who steals an egg will steal more.
Old age is a hundred disorders.
The spring sun is worse than poison.
The older the man, the weaker his mind.
To sing before breakfast is to weep before supper.
Adversity brings knowledge, and knowledge wisdom.
Let not your tongue cut your throat.
Your hand is never the worse for doing its own work.
Repay evil with good, and hell will not claim you.
The will is a good horse.
The best candle is understanding.
The child will grow, his clothes will not.
Three comforts of old age: fire, tea and tobacco.
A wife’s advice is not worth much, but woe to the husband who refuses to take it.
Of a compliment only a third is meant.
Tapping persistently breaks the stone.
A ship and a woman are ever repairing.
Home is home, no matter how poor it may be.
The best way to gather praise or recognition is to die.
A man without prudence is a ship without an anchor.
Breaking her hip is the old woman’s fault.
Better educated than wealthy.
I was wise once: when I was born, I cried.
Starting the work is two thirds of it
Be a friend to yourself, and others will.
Man learns from the cradle to the grave.
Of all weights, old age is the heaviest.
An Angel on the road, a Devil at the fireplace.
Three things it is best to avoid: a strange dog, a flood, and a man who thinks he is wise.
The old know and the young suspect.
Old feel the blows suffered when young.
Too much pudding will choke a dog.
The young laugh when the old fall.
Three things give us hardy strength: sleeping on hairy mattresses, breathing cold air, and eating dry food.
A boy is easier cheated than an old lady.
Milk for a child, meat for a man, beer for the old.
Conscience is the nest where all good is hatched.
Speak well of your friend; of your enemy, say nothing.
Better my own cottage than the palace of another.
The world is wide to everyone
A nation without a language is a nation without a heart.
The best shortage is a shortage of words.
The first to the mill grinds.
People aren’t good unless others are made better by them.
Never trust overmuch to a new friend or an old enemy.
At the end of the song comes payment.
More the hurry, more the obstacles.
The coldness of a friend and the coldness of linen — they never lasted long.
The old feel the blows suffered when young.
A work ill done must be twice done.
Every bird enjoys his own voice.
Money is the key that opens all locks.
Birds of the same color fly to the same place.
Home is home, however poor it may be.
A sword’s honor is its idleness.
Those not ruled by the rudder will be ruled by the rocks.
Adversity and loss make a man wise.
If you would be praised, die.
A spoon does not know the taste of soup, nor a learned fool the taste of wisdom.
Playing with fire will eventually turn bitter.
Adversity comes with instruction in his hand.
Without perseverance talent is a barren bed.
Reason is the wise man’s guide, example the fool’s.
Do good and then do it again.
A word to the wise, a stick to the unwise.
Scatter with one hand, gather with two.
It is good to look homewards.
Death considers not the fairest forehead.
Perfect love sometimes does not come till the first grandchild.
The kettles boiling and I’m ready.
If you want to be a leader, be a bridge.
It is easy to be brave from behind a wall.
A great sin can enter by a small door.
The wiser the man, the fewer his words.
Better a good shilling than a dud sovereign.
“Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau” is the national anthem of Wales
The land of my fathers is dear to me,
Country of poets and singers, celebrities indeed:
Its warring defenders, so gallant and brave,
For freedom their life’s blood they gave
country!, country!, faithful I am to my country!
While seas secure
This land so pure,
O may our old language endure.
O land of the mountains, the bard’s paradise,
Whose precipice, valleys are fair to my eyes,
Green murmuring forest, far echoing flood
Fire the fancy and quicken the blood
For tho’ the fierce foeman has ravaged your realm,
The old speech of Wales he cannot o’erwhelm,
Our passionate poets to silence command,
Nor banish the harp from your strand.