Hebraic proverbs



'''This page is for Hebrew proverbs, in alphabetical order, with English translations.

'''

א

 * אין הנחתום מעיד על עיסתו
 * Eyn Hanah'tom Meid Al Eesato
 * The baker shouldn't comment on his dough.
 * English equivalent: Don't blow your own horn/trumpet.


 * אין עשן בלי אש
 * Eyn Ashan Bli Esh
 * English equivalent: "No smoke without fire", or "Where there's smoke, there's fire".
 * "There is no effect without some cause. also It is supposed that if there is a rumour, there must be some truth behind it."


 * אל תסתכל בקנקן, אלא במה שבתוכו
 * Al tistakel baqanqan, ela bemah shebetokho
 * Don't look at the jar, but at what's inside it.
 * Meaning: Don't be fooled by external appearances - find the real value.
 * English equivalent: Don't judge a book by its cover.


 * אל תקנה חתול בשק
 * Al Tiqneh Hatul Basaq
 * Don't buy a cat in the sack.
 * English equivalent: Don't buy a.
 * "The more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a saint."
 * Johann Kaspar Lavater, as quoted in Many Thoughts of Many Minds (1862) edited by Henry Southgate, p. 290.

ט

 * טוב להיות זנב לאריות מאשר ראש לשועלים
 * Tov Lihiyoth Zanav La'arayoth Ma'asher Rosh Lashu'alim 
 * Better be a tail for the lions than the head of the foxes
 * Meaning: It is better to be a minor member of a good group, than a prominent leader of a bad one.
 * Meaning: It is better to be a minor member of a good group, than a prominent leader of a bad one.


 * טובה ציפור אחת ביד משתיים על העץ
 * Tova Tzipor Ahath Bayad Mishtayim Al Ha'etz
 * One bird in the hand is better than two on the tree.
 * English equivalent: Better is one bird in the hand than two in the bush.
 * Meaning: "Something you have for certain now is of more value than something better you may get, especially if you risk losing what you have in order to get it."
 * Source for meaning of English equivalent:

כ

 * כי בתחבולות תעשה לך מלחמה
 * Ki betah'boloth ta'aseh lekha milhama
 * Because with wise advice you should do a war.
 * Origin: The Bible - Proverbs 24, 6
 * "Once a man has tasted freedom he will never be content to be a slave."
 * Walt Disney, Radio address "Our American Culture" broadcast during an intermission of the Metropolitan Opera. (1 March 1941)


 * כל המרחם על אכזרים סופו שיתאכזר על רחמנים
 * Kol hamerachem al achzarim sofo shitachzer al rachmanim 
 * Who is merciful to the cruel eventually would be cruel to the merciful.
 * Origin: כל שנעשה רחמן על האכזרים, לסוף נעשה אכזר על רחמנים Eleazar ben Pedat statement in Midrash Tanhuma, Parashat Metzora, Siman A

ל

 * תכו נגד ברזל בעודו חם
 * Taku Neged Barzel B’odo Kham
 * Hit against iron while it’s hot.

מ

 * מה ששנוא עליך - אל תעשה לחברך
 * Mah Shesanu Aleikha Al Ta'aseh Lehaberkha
 * don't do to another what is hated by you.


 * מרוב עצים לא רואים את היער
 * Merov etzim lo ro'im eth ha'ya'ar
 * Can't see the forest for the trees.
 * Meaning: While overlooking every detail you might miss out the big picture.

נ

 * נאה דורש - נאה מקיים
 * Na'eh doresh - na'eh meqayem
 * He who demands well, should fulfill his demands well.
 * English equivalent: "You've got to practice what you preach".
 * 'Twas good advice, and meant, "My son, be good."
 * George Crabb, The Learned Boy, Volume V, Tale XXI. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 10-11.

ס

 * סנונית אחת אינה מבשרת את בוא האביב
 * Snonith ahath eyna mevasereth eth bo ha'aviv
 * one swallow does not herald the coming of spring.
 * Meaning: one occurrence does not indicate a general pattern.
 * Origin: Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics".

ע

 * על דאטפת אטפוך וסוף מטיפייך - יטופון (Mishnah Avot 2,7)
 * 'Al d'ateft atfu'kh, v'sof m'tifaikh ytufun
 * Because you have drowned others, you were drowned — and in the end, those who drowned you will be drowned.
 * Meaning: Sins shall be punished, but people are not allowed to take the law into their own hands. or what you do to others will come back at you (some sort of karma)

צ

 * צוחק מי שצוחק אחרון
 * Tsoheq mi shetsoheq aharon
 * laughs he who laughs last.
 * "Your laugh is of the sardonic kind."
 * Caius Gracchus, when his adversaries laughed at his defeat, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 428-30


 * צרות באות בצרורות
 * Tsaroth ba'oth bitsro'oth
 * troubles come in packs.
 * English equivalent: Misery loves company.
 * Corollaries:
 * צרה צרורה
 * Tsarah Tsrurah
 * a packed trouble.
 * proverbs in Hebrew (misle) which mean Solomaon Proverbs.

ר

 * רחוק מהעין - רחוק מהלב
 * Rahoq Meha'ayin - Rahoq Mehalev
 * "Far from the eye - far from the heart".
 * English equivalent: "out of sight - out of mind"

ת

 * תפסת מרובה - לא תפסת
 * Tafasta Merubeh - Lo Tafasta
 * (sort of) Caught lots - got nothing.
 * English equivalent: Grasp all, lose all.
 * Meaning: if one tries to achieve too many goals at once, he'll achieve none or few of them.


 * .נפלה האבן על הקדרה, אוי לקדרה. נפלה הקדרה על האבן, אוי לקדרה
 * The stone fell on the pitcher? Woe to the pitcher. The pitcher fell on the stone? Woe to the pitcher. (This is from Cervantes' Don Quixote. Was it a Hebrew proverb before that? What is the cite or authority?)
 * Esther Rabbah 7:10, quoted in Lewis Browne: The Wisdom of Israel, an Anthology


 * בכל החזיתות שאנו מטילים על אחרים אנחנו מדגימים את הפוטנציאל שלנו, דרך הילדים שלנו אנחנו מגלים את המציאות שלנו. - לורנס קלמן, כדי ללבות עמ 'נשמה
 * In the facades we put on for others we demonstrate our potential; through our children we reveal our reality.
 * Lawrence Kelemen, To Kindle A Soul p. 195


 * Love is blind.

א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת

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