Chose promise, chose due
A thing promised is a thing owed.
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.
Pacta sunt servanda
Agreements must be kept (an important principle of international law)
口說無憑
Spoken words are no guarantee.
Your word is your bond
If I hear I will forget, if I see I will remember, if I do I will understand.
-Teacher Amos
A snake has real risks.
-Teacher Shila
The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.
اِصْنَعْ شَرَابًا حَلُّوا مِنْ حَامِض لَيْمُون الْحَيَاةِ.
Make a sweet drink from the acid of the lemon of life.
जब भी जीवन में मुश्किलें आएँ तो उनका भी लाभ उठाएँ
When difficulties come into life, take advantage of them too.
[A] wise man, seeing that he was in a hole [would not] go to work and blindly dig it deeper. (1911)
There are greater possibilities today than ever before, but the man who has dug a hole and refuses to get out of it, can expect only to dig himself into deeper darkness the longer he digs The answer to "Hard Times" is "if you are in a hole stop digging -- raise your head -- open your eyes -- think -- study -- climb. It's easy to climb and hard to dig, and the more climbing you do, the quicker you will find yourself in the land of greater profit and happiness. (1920)
My parents gave me their blessing, and my father said to me—
"Good-bye, Petr'; serve faithfully he to whom you have sworn fidelity; obey your superiors; do not seek for favours; do not struggle after active service, but do not refuse it either, and remember the
proverb, 'Take care of your coat while it is new, and of your honour while it is young.'"
My mother tearfully begged me not to neglect my health.
There is no danger that Titanic will sink. The boat is unsinkable...
Pride goeth before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ مَن كَانَ مُخْتَالًا فَخُورًا
God does not like arrogant, boastful people
Qui fait le malin tombe dans le ravin
He who gets cute falls into the ravine
Сатана гордился, с неба свалился; фараон гордился, в море утопился; а мы гордимся - куда годимся?
Satan was proud and fell from heaven; the pharaoh was proud and sank in the sea; and when we are proud, what are we worth?
The bigger they come, the harder they fall.
Siku ya kufa nyani miti yote huteleza
On the day of the monkey’s death, all the trees are slippery
Ulichojaliwa hakipunguziki wala hawawezi kukuongezea
What has been destined for you cannot be reduced, nor can they increase it for you
Siku za mwizi ni arobaini
The days of a thief are forty (numbered)
Amor fati
Love [your] fate
生死有命,富貴在天
Life and death are fated, riches and honour [come from] heaven.
Count not thy Chickens that unhatched be,
Weigh words as wind, till thou find certainty
Tujivune hatimaye.
Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué.
لا تشتري السمك وهو في البحر بل انتظر حتى يصطاد
Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben.
Ante victoriam ne canas triumphum
Não conte com o ovo dentro da galinha.
Mikono mingi kazi haba
Many hands, small work
人多好辦事
Many people, fine work
берись дружно, не будет грузно
Take hold of it together, it won't be heavy
The credit of success is claimed by all, while a disaster is attributed to one alone.
- Tacitus, in Agricola
It is precisely when things are good that we should be considering the possibility that someday they might not be so good. We should be acquiring allies. We should be doing favors and good for other people—because someday, we’ll need them to do the same for us.
No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano
(Waking up early doesn't make the sun rise any sooner)
欲速则不达
(Haste makes waste)
When Tsz-hiá became governor of Kü-fu, and consulted him about government, he answered, "Do not wish for speedy results. Do not look at trivial advantages. If you wish for speedy results, they will not be far-reaching; and if you regard trivial advantages you will not successfully deal with important affairs."
Tout vient a point a qui sait attendre
(Everything comes to those who wait)
Pole pole ndio mwendo
(Slow slow is the way to go)
Haraka haraka haina baraka
aaba, 3+3/3+3
Historically, proverbs seem to have preceded poetry, and Swahili poets have had access to the abundance of proverbs treasured by the bearers of the oral tradition. Early proverbs were most certainly formed in a poetic fashion that gradually became more refined and established generally accepted prosodic forms. The most common Swahili proverbs, and which are rather short, have 6, 8, 12 or 16 syllables (mizani), and many of them appear in poems and songs as lines (mistari), hemistichs or half-lines (vipande), or as refrains (mikarara). There are many examples of a p0em which starts with a proverb and is in fact an elaboration of it. In the following examples from different poems, we find the 3+3 rhyOhm i.e. 6 syllables with a medial caesurae (kituo) having a penultimate stress:
Akili ni mali. - Intelligence is an asset.
Mahaba ni haba. - Love is worth little.
Mapenzi majonzi. - Love brings melancholy.
The caesurae in a proverb causing the 2, 3 or 4 hemistichs is a rhythmic break equivalent to a caesurae in a well-balanced poem, and the various resulting rhymes can be described as follows:
Haraka haraka, haina baraka. (aaba, 3+3/3+3) Hurry, hurry, has no blessings / Haste makes waste.
(Kwa) haba na haba, hujaza kibaba. (aaba, 3+3/3+3) Little by little fills up the measure.