Corsican proverbs

Corsican is a Tuscan dialect dialect spoken in the island of Corsica.

B

 * Bisogna fa di forza legge.
 * Idiomatic translation: Make a virtue out of necessity.
 * Meaning: Acquiesce in doing something unpleasant with a show of grace because one must do it in any case.


 * Bole piglia l'anguilla pe a coda.
 * Idiomatic translation: You might as well try to hold an eel by the tail.
 * "He that does not speak Truth to me, does not believe me when I speak Truth."
 * Thomas Fuller, Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727)

C

 * Chi ha tempu unn ' aspetti tempu.
 * English equivalent: When fortune knocks, be sure to open the door.

D

 * Dimmi con chi vai, ti dirò quel che tu fai.
 * English equivalent: If you lie down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas.


 * Dopo fatta la cosa, consiglio non vale.
 * English equivalent: When a thing is done, advice comes too late.


 * Duve si ha de beie un ci si sputa.
 * English equivalent: Don't spit where you need to drink.
 * Refers to someone who causes trouble in their immediate surroundings.
 * Dale Carnegie, How To Win Friends And Influence People (1934)

E

 * È chiucu ancu a pevaru.
 * English equivalent: Every hair casts its shadow.


 * È meglio solo che mal compagnadi.
 * Translation: It is better to be alone than to be in bad company.
 * English equivalent: Better be alone than in bad company.
 * Source for proverb:

F

 * Forse un diaule caccia il altru.
 * English equivalent: One nail drives out another.
 * "As one nail drives out another, So the remembrance of my former love Is by a newer object quite forgotten."
 * William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (1592)

L

 * La notte è madre di consigliu.
 * English equivalent: To take counsel of one's pillow.

P

 * Per chi un sa zappà, tutte e zappe so malfatte.
 * English equivalentː An ill workman quarrels with his tools.

Q

 * Quandu t'è prumess u purcellu, legalu en u muscellu.
 * Translation: Seize the offer.
 * English equivalent: When the pig is proffered, hold up the poke.
 * "I knew that what I had felt was envy or regret, not for something lost but for something never achieved."
 * P. D. James, Dr. Theodore Faron character in The Children of Men (1992)

U

 * U megliu è spessu nemicu di u be.
 * English equivalent: Better is the enemy of good.


 * Un lascià mai corre u certu per l'incertu.
 * English equivalent: He that leaves certainty and sticks to chance, When fools pipe, he may dance.


 *  Un mette troppu carne a focu 
 * English equivalent: He that has many irons in the fire, some of them will let burn (will cool).