Jewish proverbs

A mother understands what a child does not say.

If there is bitterness in the heart, sugar in the mouth won’t make life sweeter.

You can’t force anyone to love you or lend you money.

What one has, one doesn’t want, and what one wants, one doesn’t have.

Don’t open a shop unless you know how to smile.

Don’t be sweet, lest you be eaten up; don’t be bitter, lest you be spewed out.

A half-truth is a whole lie.

Don’t sell the sun to buy a candle.

Pride joined with many virtues chokes them all.

The man who gives little with a smile gives more than the man who gives much with a frown.

As you teach, you learn.

Beware of the person who gives you advice according to his own interests.

Only love gives us the taste of eternity.

Don’t live in a town where there are no doctors.

When you have no choice, mobilize the spirit of courage.

A bird that you set free may be caught again, but a word that escapes your lips will not return.

What you don’t see with your eyes, don’t invent with your mouth.

Ask about your neighbors, then buy the house.

He who prays for his neighbor will be heard for himself.

Not to have felt pain is not to have been human.

If the rich could hire the poor to die for them, the poor would make a very nice living.

If God lived on earth, people would break his windows.

He that can’t endure the bad, will not live to see the good.

First mend yourself, and then mend others.

Anyone who teases you loves you.

Do not be wise in words – be wise in deeds.

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Prepare your proof before you argue.

A friend you have to buy; enemies you get for nothing.

A slave shows his true character, not while he is enslaved but when he becomes a master.

Among those who stand, do not sit; among those who sit, do not stand.

Don’t make a fence more expensive or more important than what it is fencing.

Teach your tongue to say “I don’t know” instead of to make up something.

The good fellow to everyone is a good friend to no one.

Don’t trust someone who tells you all of his troubles and keeps you from all of his joys.

Even the most expensive clock still shows sixty minutes in every hour.

God is closest to those with broken hearts.

Make sure to be in with your equals if you’re going to fall out with your superiors.

Hospitality is one form of worship.

I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes — until I met a man who had no feet.

Let your ears hear what your mouth says.

If not for fear, sin would be sweet.

If you don’t aspire to great things, you won’t attain small things.

Sympathy doesn’t provide food, but it makes hunger more endurable.

If you lie on the ground, you cannot fall.

Locks keep out only the honest.

When con men meet a legitimately honest man, they are so bewildered that they consider him a greater con man than themselves.

The rich man carries God in his pocket, the poor man in his heart.

Look for the good, not the evil, in the conduct of members of the family.

The righteous say little and do much.

Loose tongues are worse than wicked hands.

No one is as deaf as the man who will not listen.

One mother achieves more than a hundred teachers.

People make plans and God laughs.

Pride is the mask of one’s own faults.

The person who only accepts friends without faults will never have any real friends.

Truth is the safest lie.

When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.

When a habit begins to cost money, it’s called a hobby.

When two divorced people marry, four people get into bed.

When you open a door, don’t forget to close it. Treat your mouth accordingly.

Who finds a faithful friend, finds a treasure.

Your friend has a friend, and your friend’s friend has another friend — so know when to keep quiet.