(English). "Near the monastery, last at mass. "But first declare When you and your wife's rich kinfolk do dwell Never put off till tomorrow what may be done today. (English). See Proverbs Suggested by the Bible: "Do not Benjamin Franklin. "Defer not till tomorrow to be wise, William Congreve. Edward Young. "Procrastination is the thief of time If there is anything disagreeable to do, do it tomorrow. (Japanese). "If you wait till tomorrow have no fear of mishap." It may also be said in favour of either proverb: No one is content with his own lot. (Portuguese). Who is not satisfied with his condition is a great fool. (German). "Let everyone be content with what God has given No woman is ugly if she is well dressed. (Spanish, Portuguese). Ugly women finely dressed are the uglier for it. (English). The best choice is to do good. (Welsh). The best choice is wealth. (Welsh). The best friend is an acre of land. (Welsh). The best friend is a clean conscience. (Welsh). The dog bites not his master. (Osmanli). A man may provoke his own dog to bite him. (English). There is no better friend in misfortune than gold. (German). Gold is the greatest enemy in the world. (Japanese). There is no folly like love. (Welsh). Without love, without sense. (Welsh). There is no friend to a man like his mother. (Osmanli). A man has no friend like a brother, no country like Irak. (Osmanli). There never was a looking-glass that told a woman she was ugly. (French). "Every woman loves the woman in the lookingglass." (German). An ugly woman dreads the mirror. (Japanese). "The uglier the face, the more it chides the lookingglass.' (German). "They took away the mirror from me because I was ugly, and gave it to the blind woman." (Spanish). "Your lookingglass will tell you what none of your friends will." (English). The song should be for her whose wedding it is. (Behar). "The day before the expected arrival of the marriage procession, the family sets up a bamboo shed in the courtyard over the fireplace. The shed is called Mashwa, Maurwa, or Manro. It is the hut in which a marriage ceremony is conducted.” G. A. Grierson. One should act as befits the occasion. It is the wedding of the sickle and all the song is for the hoe. (Behar). "This proverb appears somewhat quaint to us, but in the mouth of the people whose chief pursuits are agricultural, the allusion to implements of agriculture is but natural."-John Christian. Action or speech is out of place. Though the camel goes to Mecca forty years he does not become a hadji. (Osmanli). A hadji-i. e., a pilgrim. The camel is a pilgrim. (Osmanli). Because he often goes to Mecca. We can live without a brother, but not without a friend. (German). We can live without our friends, but not without our neighbours. (English). When a man will throw at a dog he soon finds a stone. (German). "A stick is soon found to beat a dog." (English, Italian, Dutch). "Whoso is desirous of beating a dog will readily find a stick." (French). "He that wants to strike a dog ne'er wants a stick." (Scotch). When a dog comes a stone cannot be found; when a stone is found the dog does not come. (Telugu). "If we see a dog there is no stone and if we see a stone there is no dog." (Tamil). Who weds ere he be wise shall die ere he thrives. (English). "Honest men marry soon, wise men not at all." "It is good to marry late or never." (English). Early marriages, long love. (German). "Either marry very young or turn monk very young." (Modern Greek). CONTEMPTUOUS PROVERBS INCLUDING SNEERING, JEERING, SCOFFING, AND TAUNTING EXPRESSIONS AND SARCASTIC PHRASES A fool: unable to make out the front from the hind part of an elephant. (Behar). "Said of a fool who cannot make 'head or tail' of anything-like the villager who, it is said, on seeing an elephant for the first time, exclaimed: 'It has tails on both ends.'"-John Christian. After Abbádán no village remains. (Arabian). A derisive expression applied to people who laud their native town no matter how lowly and obscure it is. Abbádán was said to be a place in the district of Sowád on the eastern bank of the Tigris. A great man that with his turban cocked! (Bengalese). Applied to an insignificant person who boasts of his great ability. A great merchant-eighteen robberies on his premises! (Bengalese). A scoff at anyone who boasts of wealth and position but who is known to be poor and lowly. A great wedding-lac-paper on both legs! (Bengalese). Spoken jeeringly when one makes "a great ado about nothing," or displays his ornaments, or, although in humble circumstances, has a pretentious marriage procession. A huge baboon with a big belly, yet declines jumping across to Lanká! (Bengalese). Lanka is the Sanskrit name of Ceylon or its capital. |