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Proverbs

Better late than never

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Updated 4mo ago
by
Brighid McCarthy
View this proverb in Swahili
Bora kuchelewa kuliko kukosa kabisa
One day a renown businessman wanted to hire an assistant. He received many resumes, but only two candidates met his high standards: Alice and Bob. To help him decide, he called both, and they each agreed to come in for an interview the following morning. "9 AM. Look sharp and don't be late." The manager warned.

The next morning Alice woke up early, donned her best suit and got to the village bus station at 8:00am. "Better safe than sorry," she thought.  On the way to town, the front of the minibus began to smoke. The driver pulled over in the bush and told all the passengers to get out. Just then it started to rain. Alice tried to wave down each bus that passed, but they were all full, so she had to walk on foot. 9am came and went, but Alice was still miles from town and the rain was getting harder. "I must keep going." she thought, "Better late than never."

Meanwhile in town, Bob woke up in his apartment, and saw the sun was high in the sky. He sat up suddenly. "Oh no! Why did my alarm fail?" He looked at the clock on his wall: 9:00 am. "Forget it. Even if I leave right now, I'll still be late, and they'll never hire someone who is late." So Bob, feeling depressed, went back to sleep.

At 10:30, Alice finally made it to the office and knocked on the door, her neatly pressed suit now dripping and muddy. The businessman answered.
"I warned you to be on time, yet you are over an hour late, how can you expect me to give you this job?"
Then Alice explained all that had happened.
"I have learned a lot about you from this story, Alice. When you have a purpose in mind, you persist despite and obstacles and don't give up, even when it seems too late. In fact, you are the first to arrive today. The other candidate did not show up at all. The job is yours."

Great achievements and inventions often begin with a lot of failures, but in the long run, persistence and learning are rewarded.  People make a lot of mistakes (to err is human), but life is very patient with us, giving us lots of chances to learn from them and try again, as long as we don't give up.

Some say the proverb "Better late than never" comes from The Canterbury Tales, written by Chaucer around the 1390s.
Better than never is late -  The Canon's Yeoman's Tale  
Others trace the proverb to an even earlier origin, in Livy's History of Rome, written around 20 BC:
There was no end to it; tribunes of the commons and patricians could not subsist in the same state; either the one order or the other office must be abolished; and that a stop should be put to presumption and temerity rather late than never. - Livy, History of Rome, Book 4

A similar saying in English is "It's never too late." 
Here's a proverb that relates to the same principle in Hindi:
जब जाति तब सवेरे
Whenever you wake up, that’s your morning

And here's an English proverb that often means the opposite of this one:
Don't close the stable door after the horse has bolted

Details Imagine you woke up late for a job interview. What would you do? Would you scramble to get dressed and make it to the meeting as quickly as possible? Or would you think "Forget it, it's not worth going at all now"? Next time you think "It's too late" try telling yourself "Better late than never." For example, this Proverb of the Day was posted late, but at least you're reading it now - Thanks!
Sources
The Canterbury Tales, The Canon's Yeoman's Tale
History of Rome, Book 4

Better late than never (Wiktionary)
Close the stable door after the horse has bolted (Wiktionary)  
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Other proverbs
A promise is a debt
It’s a simple and profound truth about human relationships: Making a promise means creating an expectation in others. When we fail to keep our promises, we damage our relationships and our reputation. Next time you make a promise, ask yourself, "Would I sign a contract that said this?"

French
Chose promise, chose due 
A thing promised is a thing owed. 
Russian:
Долг платежом красен, а займы отдачею. 
The beauty of a debt is its payment 
Alternative translation: A debt is beautiful when it is paid off, and loans when repaid.
Latin:
Pacta sunt servanda
Agreements must be kept (an important principle of international law)
Chinese
口說無憑
Spoken words are no guarantee.
English
Your word is your bond

What do you think? Is a promise as strong as a contract?
...
Updated 4mo ago
by
Brighid McCarthy
2
Rome wasn't built in a day

Do you have a big dream?

A dream too big for you to ever accomplish on your own? Maybe even too big to be accomplished in one generation?

Some gothic cathedrals in Europe took over 600 years -- more than 20 generations -- to complete! Although the Great Pyramid of Giza seems to have been built much faster (in a single generation), it also took tens of thousands of people.

In Tanzania, the Great Mosque of Kilwa was built in the 11th-14th centuries, rebuilt after earthquake damage, and continued to be remodeled up to the 18th century. It was described in the 1300s by Ibn Battuta. (You can take a 3D virtual tour of Kilwa! Check out the link in sources.)

The wonders of the world, modern and ancient, began as big dreams, dreams that took many generations to fulfill. Each generation continued the work of the past and also contributed to revising the blueprints for the future.

So if you are trying to do something great -- something that will really change the world -- don't expect to do it in one day. And don't try to do it alone. 

Related proverbs:


 Swahili:
Ukitaka kwenda haraka, nenda peke yako, ukitaka kwenda mbali, nenda na wenzako
If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together 

French:
Rome ne fu[t] pas faite toute en un jour
from Li Proverbe au Vilain, published around 1190
Modern French: Rome ne s'est pas faite en un jour
Rome wasn't built in a day

Chinese:
冰凍三尺，非一日之寒
Three feet of ice is not the result of one cold day

Scottish Gaelic
Chan ann leis a’ chiad bhuille a thuiteas a’ chraobh
It is not with the first strike that the tree will fall
...

Image credit: Screenshot from 3D virtual tour of Kilwa Kisiwani created by Zamani Project

Updated 4mo ago
by
Brighid McCarthy
2
Mshindi hufaidi yote
Methali hii ya Kiingereza "To the victor go the spoils" inatafsirika pia kama "Mshindi ndiye anayechukua vyote" au "Mshindi hupokea nyara zote."

Mshindi wa shindano ndiye anayepokea tuzo. Huwa anachukua asilimia kubwa ya faida ama faida zote, na hata manufaa zaidi ya yale yaliyokuwa yakipiganiwa.

Katika vita, nyara zinaweza kuwa ardhi, mamlaka au rasilimali nyingine zinazotafutwa. Katika shughuli zingine nyara zinaweza kuwa sifa, pesa au fursa. Methali hii hutumika ili kueleza matokeo yasiyo sawa au kutukumbusha kwamba katika migogoro mingi ni mshindi ndiye atakayechukua yote, asilimia kubwa, au angalau, kupendelewa. Angalia sehemu ya vyanzo kwa maelezo ya muktadha kuhusu chimbuko la methali hii, mwanasiasa wa Marekani katika miaka ya 1830 (Kiingereza).
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Updated 4mo ago
by
Brighid McCarthy
Ndege mkononi ana thamani ya wawili mtini
Maana yake, afadhali kuridhika na ulicho nacho, badala ya kuiweka hatarini kwa ajili ya kupata kitu kubwa zaidi.

 Methali hii ni ya zamani sana. Chanzo cha methali hii ni kitabu cha kale kiitwacho  "Hadithi ya Ahikar." (Kinajulikana pia kama "Methali za Ahiqar.")
Mwanangu, mguu wa kondoo katika mkono wako mwenyewe ni bora kuliko bega zima katika mkono wa mwengine; Afadhali kondoo mdogo aliye karibu na wee kuliko ng'ombe aliye mbali; Afadhali shomoro aliyeshikwa mkononi kuliko ndege elfu warukao angani; vazi ulilo nalo ni afadhali kuliko vazi la zambarau usiloliona.
- Hadithi ya Ahikar (ukurasa wa 110)
Kitabu hiki kinasimulia hadithi ya mshauri wa wafalme wa kale wa Ashuru na Misri. Inadhaniwa kuwa hadithi hii ilitungwa takribani 600 KK, na kuna nakala iliyochapishwa mwaka wa 500 KK. 

Methali karibu na hii kutoka nchi mbalimbali:
French:
Un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l'auras
'Shika-hii-hapa" moja ina thamana kuliko 'nitakuletea-baadaye' mbili
Japanese
明日の百より今日の五十
Hamsini leo ni bora kuliko mia kesho
Italian
Meglio un uovo oggi che una gallina domani
Bora yai leo kuliko kuku kesho

Mnaonaje -- methali hii ni ushauri mzuri? Ni bora kuridhika na kitu kinachopatikana kwa hakika, ama kutafuta kitu bora zaidi kisicho na hakika?
...
Updated 4mo ago
by
Brighid McCarthy