Yiddish proverbs

From BillionQuotes

Proverbs in the Yiddish language.

With original Yiddish

• Je länger ein Blinder lebt, desto mehr sieht er.
  • Translation: The longer a blind man lives, the more he sees.

• Gott hat eine Welt voller kleiner Weltchen erschaffen.
  • Translation: God created one world full of small worlds.

Without original Yiddish

• A dead man is mourned seven days; a fool, his lifetime.
• A fool is his own informer.
• A good friend you get for nothing, an enemy you have to buy.
• A heavy purse makes a light heart.
• A schlemiel lands on his back, and bruises his nose.
• An imaginary ailment is worse than a disease.
• God is an honest payer, but a very slow one.
• God loves the poor and helps the rich.
• God will provide. If only God would provide until He provides!
• Hope may give a man strength, but not sense.
• If I dealt in candles, the sun wouldn't set; if I dealt in shrouds, people would stop dying!
• If the rich could hire someone to die for them, the poor would make a wonderful living.
• If you lie on the ground, you can't fall.
• If you seek a reputation for wisdom, agree with everyone.
• It is far easier to spot faults in another than virtues in oneself.
• Life is the cheapest bargain-- you get it for nothing.
• Love is blind; jealousy sees too much.
• Love your neighbor, even if he plays the trombone.
• May God protect you from goyishe hands and yiddishe tongues.
• Money is round, so it rolls away.
• No man suffers from another's sins-- he has enough of his own.
• Once poor, never rich.
• One good deed has many claimants.
• Rejoice not at your enemy's fall, but don't pick him up, either.
• Some people are like new shoes-- the cheaper they are, the louder they squeak!
• Spare us what we can learn to endure.
• The girl who can't dance says the band can't play.
• The heaviest thing in the world is an empty pocket.
• Treat me like a rabbi; watch me like a thief.
• Understanding is something we're sure the other fellow hasn't got.
• We have far greater compassion for another's misfortune than our pleasure in another's good fortune.
• What you don't see with your eyes, don't invent with your tongue.
• You can't force anyone to love you or lend you money.
• Your health comes first-- you can always hang yourself later.
• Man makes plans, and God laughs.

Bibliography

• Ayalti, Hanan J., (ed.), Yiddish Proverbs, New York, 1949.
• Bernstein, Ignaz and B. W. Segel, Jiddische Sprichwörter, Frankfurt a. M., 1908.
• King, Alan, Alan King's Jewish Joke Book, (published(?)), 2003(?)fr:Proverbes juifs

he:פתגמים אידים pt:Provérbios_Judaicos