A penny spar'd is twice got.
- Outlandish Proverbs by George Herbert (1640)
Necessary Hints to Those That Would Be Rich
The use of money is all the advantage there is in having money. For six pounds a year [interest] you may have the use of one hundred pounds [a loan], provided you are a man of known prudence and honesty.
He that spends a groat [4 pence] a day idly spends idly above six pounds a year, which is the price for the use of one hundred pounds.
He that wastes idly a groat's [4 pence] worth of his time per day, one day with another, wastes the privilege of using one hundred pounds each day.
He that idly loses five shillings' worth of time loses five shillings, and might as prudently throw five shillings into the sea.
He that loses five shillings not only loses that sum, but all the advantage that might be made by turning it in dealing, which by the time that a young man becomes old will amount to a considerable sum of money.
Again, he that sells upon credit asks a price for what he sells equivalent to the principal and interest of his money for the time he is to be kept out of it, therefore, he that buys upon credit pays interest for what he buys, and he that pays ready money might let that money out to use, so that he that possesses anything he has bought pays interest for the use of it.
Yet in buying goods it is best to pay ready money, because he that sells upon credit expects to lose five per cent by bad debts; therefore he charges on all he sells upon credit an advance that shall make up that deficiency. Those who pay for what they buy upon credit pay their share of this advance. He that pays ready money escapes, or may escape, that charge.
"A penny saved is twopence clear;
A pin a day's a groat a year."
[Benjamin Franklin]'s maxims were full of animosity toward boys [whose fathers had read Franklin’s pernicious autobiography]. Nowadays a boy cannot follow out a single natural instinct without tumbling over some of those everlasting aphorisms and hearing from Franklin, on the spot. If he buys two cents’ worth of peanuts, his father says, “Remember what Franklin has said, my son—‘A groat a day’s a penny a year,’” and the comfort is all gone out of those peanuts. If he wants to spin his top when he has done work, his father quotes, “Procrastination is the thief of time.” If he does a virtuous action, he never gets anything for it, because “Virtue is its own reward.” And that boy is hounded to death and robbed of his natural rest, because Franklin said once, in one of his inspired flights of malignity:
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise.
As if it were any object to a boy to be healthy and wealthy and wise on such terms.
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)
Un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l'auras
'Shika-hii-hapa" moja ina thamana kuliko 'nitakuletea-baadaye' mbili
明日の百より今日の五十
Hamsini leo ni bora kuliko mia kesho
Meglio un uovo oggi che una gallina domani
Bora yai leo kuliko kuku kesho
A penny spar'd is twice got.
Senti iliyookolewa hupatikana mara mbili.
- Outlandish Proverbs by George Herbert (1640)
Matumizi ya pesa ndiyo faida zote zinayopatikana ukiwa na pesa.
Kwa pound [£] sita kwa mwaka [yaani riba] unaweza kutumia £ mia [yaani kupitia mkopo], kama unajulikana kama mwaminifu na mwenye busara.
Anayetumia groat [senti 4] kwa siku bure, hutumia pound £ zaidi ya sita kwa mwaka, ambazo ni bei ya kujipatia matumizi ya pound £ mia moja.
[Kwa hivyo] Anayepoteza muda wake wa thamani ya groat [senti 4] kwa siku, siku moja na nyingine, anapoteza fursa ya kutumia pound mia moja kila siku.
Anayepoteza muda wa shilingi tano kwa uvivu hupoteza shilingi tano, ni kama amezitupa tu baharini.
Anayepoteza shilingi tano sio tu kwamba anapoteza kiasi hicho, bali anapoteza pia faida yote ambayo ingeweza kupatikana kwa kuzitumia katika shughuli zake, ambayo, akiwa kijana, wakati wa uzee ingefikia kiasi kikubwa cha fedha.
Tena: anayeuza kwa mkopo huongeza bei ya kile anachokiuza kwa kiasi sawa riba angaliingiza na pesa hizo kwa kipindi ambacho atazikosa. Kwa hivyo, anayenunua kwa mkopo hulipa riba kwa kile anachonunua, na anayelipa pesa mara moja kwa kila anachonunua hukoa fursa ya kuzikopesha kwa wengine, kwa hivyo aliye na kitu alichonunua ameshalipa riba kwa matumizi yake.
Hata hivyo nasema kulipa mara moja unaponunua ni bora, kwa sababu anayeuza kwa mkopo anatarajia kupoteza asilimia tano ya mikopo; kwa hivyo anaongeza bei ya kile anachokiuza kwa asilimia ileile ili kuzuia hasara. Wanaolipa kwa mikopo hulipa kodi mara moja. Anayelipa kwa pesa mara moja anaweza kuzuia kodi hii
"Senti iliyohifadhiwa ni senti mbili hakika;
[haba] kwa siku ni [nne] kwa mwaka."
[A] person can't experience everything in life from their parents: they must be ready to be taught by the world-- that is to learn from others beyond their father and mother.
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
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
冰凍三尺,非一日之寒
Three feet of ice is not the result of one cold day
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