List of Kurdish Proverbs English

Guests bring good luck with them.

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Even the highest tree has an axe waiting at its foot.

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Thorns and roses grow on the same tree.

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Kind words will unlock an iron door.

A man is judged by his work.

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The wolf repents only in death.

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A fool dreams of wealth, a wise man, of happiness.

What matters is the menu on the table now.

If you talk to the blacksmith you'll get hit by sparks.

Beauty passes; wisdom remains.

Patience is bitter, but it bears sweet fruit.

Deal with your friends as if they will become your enemies tomorrow, and deal with your enemies as if they will become your friends tomorrow.

A threat does not lengthen your sword.

Those who do not go to war roar like lions.

God has created us brothers but has given us separate purses.

Ability has no school.

The rich man's wealth tires the poor man's jaw.

Kurds have no friends.

Empty words will not fill an empty stomach.

A home without guests, a village without shepherds, both are hopeless indeed.

He who loves a woman is a nephew of the sun.

The only friends we have are the mountains.

Listen a hundred times; ponder a thousand times; speak once.

A red apple invites stones.

Both the hunted and the hunter rely on God.

The miser and the open-handed spend the same in long run.

Your son can be a prince, your daughter will be a mother.

God finds a low branch for the bird that cannot fly.

A thousand friends are too few; one enemy is one too many.

Eat and drink with your friends but do not trade with them.

The man is a river, the woman a lake.

A hungry stomach has no ears.

Habit is worse than rabies.

Work as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow.

Loneliness is a nest for the thoughts.

He who wants pearls has to dive into the sea.

A tribulation is better than a hundred warnings.

The male is born to be slaughtered.

Many will show you the way once your cart has overturned.

Wood can only be split with a wedge that is cut from its own tree.

God created women and women created the hearth.

A cup of coffee commits one to forty years of friendship.

The Kurds have no friends.

Many women, many words.

If God closes one door, He opens a thousand others.

An illness comes by the pound and goes away by the ounce.

With patience, mulberry leaves become satin.

Dogs bark, but the caravan goes on.

The fox did not reach the grape, said it's unripe.

A shy woman is worth a city, a shy man is worth a goat.

Give nine, save ten.

With fortune on your side you can sow salt and harvest grass.

No matter where you go, your destiny follows you.

The foreign person is blind and the killed person has no chance.

Better one day a man than ten days a woman.

If God didn't like beautiful women, he wouldn't have made them.

A man is as wise as his head, not his years.

With a mule you have a son, with a son-in-law you only have a mule.

Do what your teacher says but not what he does.

A thief not caught becomes a king.

The enemy of a father will never be friends of his son.

If skill could be gained by watching, every dog would become a butcher.

Wish well, be well.

No means, no market.

Freedom is never given but taken.

The devil will not bother you in a house full of children.

An open door invites callers.

Whoever speaks evil to you of others will speak evil of you to others.

If you are an anvil, be patient; if you are a hammer, be strong.

No one says, "My pasture is not sweet."

The devil tempts all, but the idle man tempts the devil.

A neighbor's hen looks as big as a goose, and his wife as young as a girl.

Whoever is fond of cream should take the cow around with him.

For every wise man there is one still wiser.

The devil takes a hand in what is done in haste.

Nobody knows who is he, even if he is under his father's ears.

Do not throw the arrow which will return against you.

Whoever digs a pit for his neighbor should dig it his own size.

It is more difficult to contend with oneself than with the world.

A woman is a fortress, a man her prisoner.

Not every cloud brings rain.

Study from new books, but from old teachers.

Better a wise foe than a foolish friend.

If you are not a flower, don't be a thorn.

A heart in love with beauty never grows old.

Of everything else the newest; of friends, the oldest.

When the money starts to glitter and clink, even a Mullah will leave the mosque.

Fighting is better than idleness.

It is easy to say "Come" difficult to say "Go".

When Madame drops her cup of tea it makes no noise.

Stretch your feet according to your blanket.

Do not roll up your trousers before reaching the stream.

A kind word warms a man through three winters.

It is easy to catch a serpent with someone else's hand.

Of evil grain no good seed can come.

When it is spring time, the grass will even grow under a big stone.

Stairs are climbed step by step.

Fear an ignorant man more than a lion.

Any man with two wives becomes a porter.

If you cannot build a town, build a heart.

When a cat wants to eat her kittens, she says they look like mice.

Do not eat the strangers' bread as this diminishes your stature.

Some will enjoy the honey, others will have to put up with the sting.

Once a friend, always a friend.

It is easier to make a camel jump a ditch than to make a fool listen to reason.

When a bald man dies the mourners give him curly hair as a present.

See with your mind; hear with your heart.

Better a calf of one's own than a jointly owned cow.

A wise man remembers his friends at all times; a fool, only when he has need of them.

If you give him cloth, he'll ask for the lining.

What you give away you keep.

One beats one's breast who does not beat one's child.

See with your mind, hear with your heart.

Expect the worst from your enemy so that you won't be disappointed.

A hundred men can sit together quietly but when two dogs get together there will be a fight.

What the heart thinks, the mouth speaks.

It is better to be naked in your place than to be a pasha with strangers.

One can never repay one's debt to one's mother.

Search yourself, and you will find Allah.

Habit becomes second nature.

Activity breeds prosperity.

Those away from the battlefield boast about their swords. *

A good companion shortens the longest road.

It is better to be a male for one day than a female for ten.

What is loaned goes away smiling but returns weeping.

One gives twice who gives quickly.

Everything is pardoned the brave..

A camel is not a animal and an Arab is not a human being.

To speak is to sow; to listen is to reap.

If you wish to do a good deed, consult no one.

One is equally indebted to one's teacher and to God.

A visitor comes with ten blessings, eats one, and leaves nine.

Every "bad" has its "worse".

To have a hut built from mud here is better than a palace made from gold and marble on the Arabian Gulf.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

At table keep short hand; in company keep a short tongue.

One sturdy house is worth a hundred in ruins.

To find your place in life is easier than to occupy it.

In a flat country a hillock thinks itself a mountain.

Bad habits are worse than rabies.

A girl without a mother is like a mountain with no paths; a girl without a father is like a mountain with no streams.

Ignorance is sweet for the soul.

Time is like a dagger; if you don't cut with it, it cuts you. Go ahead and cut. Be quick before it cuts you.

Only by falling do you learn how to mount a horse.

A knife-wound heals, but a tongue-wound festers.

Every sheep is hung by his own leg.

Open your eyes, not your mouth.

A small key opens big doors.

Those who know do not talk; those who talk do not know.

In a fire, both green and dry wood burn.

A wise man does his own work.

Part with your head, but not with your secret.