Good / funny proverbs in Spanish

[tenzijth]

I remember my mother always saying witty proverbs to us when we'd do something wrong, or when we'd hear of something that happened. For instance, one that she would always use was, "mucha confianza mato a todos los Palominos!" That's probably not the best example because los Palominos refers to our family name, but I'm wondering if anyone else out there know of some witty proverbs they'd like to share.

[harpy]

I'm not learning Spanish, but my mother speaks it fluently. She works with Hispanic people and they use Spanish in the workplace. Initially, I wanted to learn Spanish instead of German, but I got started with German at a young age, learning Spanish would have been a 360-degree shift for me.

Anyway, when it comes to quotes, my favorite is, "lo que no me mata, me hace mas fuerte." In English, that's "what doesn't kill me, makes one stronger." This quote fuels me whenever I am down; it's my go-to quote when I've had a long, hard day!

[Trellum]

*Sigh*  There is a thing my mom kept repeating when she found out I was in a long distance relationship: ''amor de lejos es amor de pendejos''.  Hehehe, needless to say I got so upset when I heard her say that. Thankfully she stopped after a while.  In my opinion that phrase was really rude   But she was right tho, it had to take me a few years in order to realize that.

Ah well, there is another proverb my mom used to say often and I still remember whenever I dread the thinking of waking up early to  complete all my tasks: ''El que madruga dios lo ayuda''.

[fuumarumota_espanol]

In Mexico we usually say "camarón que se duerme, se lo lleva la corriente", meaning that one should stay alert just in case a good opportunity shows up in order to take it. There's another one my grandfather used to say: "Al que a buen árbol se arrima, buena sombra le cobija". This one means that selecting your acquaintances carefully is quite convenient (you can get a good employment or make good contacts via the correct people, for example).

[OmniHead]

There are so many proverbs in Spanish that have no accurate English translation, that make me feel like English is poor when it comes to express the so-called "wisdom of the people"

Some examples of proverbs that make hard for me to find an English equivalent are:

- Donde manda capitán, no gobierna marinero

- De poquito en poquito, se llena el jarrito

- Al que buen árbol se arrima, buena sombra le cobija

And so many others 

[fuumarumota_espanol]

Yeah, it's true. I can't think of any direct translations for those phrases. The best we can do is to explain their meaning in plain, literal English.

[Elimination]

A friend said a really funny one the other day. The context? He was talking about an ugly girl he was hooking up with, telling me he wouldn't introduce her to friends or family but... "Tampoco soy Dios para perdonar." 

 

[sillylucy]

On 1/17/2016 at 5:09 PM, OmniHead said:

There are so many proverbs in Spanish that have no accurate English translation, that make me feel like English is poor when it comes to express the so-called "wisdom of the people"

Some examples of proverbs that make hard for me to find an English equivalent are:

- Donde manda capitán, no gobierna marinero

- De poquito en poquito, se llena el jarrito

- Al que buen árbol se arrima, buena sombra le cobija

And so many others 

I always thought of Donde manda capitán, no gobierna marinero as a phrase saying that the worker is not in control because there is a captain in charge. I agree that these don't sound like profound proverbs either and sounds like just literal statements, but in Spanish they sound so much nicer.