YIDDISH PROVERBS

Some proverbs to live by, thanks to the Jews.


-Two at the feast of the chicken: me and the chicken.

-A man should live if only to satisfy his curiosity.

-A fool is his own informer.

-Better a steady dime than a rare dollar

-A heavy purse makes a light heart.

-A dead man is mourned seven days, a fool his life time.

-Your health comes first-you can always hang yourself later.

-One good deed has many claimants.

-Tell an ass by his long ears, a fool by his long tongue.

-“Thou hast chosen us from among the nations”-why did You have to pick on the Jews?

-When a fool holds his tongue, he too is thought clever.

-When a poor man gets to eat chicken, one of then is sick.

-“Rejoice not at thy enemies fall”-but don’t pick him either.

-When a mother calls her child “bastard”, you can take her word for it.

-With luck, even your ox will calve.

-The girl who can’t dance says the band can’t play.

-If things don’t get better, depend on it, they will get worse.

-If God so wills it, even a broom can shoot.

-With money on your pocket, you are wise and you are handsome and you sing well, too.

-Three things grow overnight: profits, rent, and girls.

-Truth rests with God alone, and a little with me.

-He is wondering if a flea has a navel.

-It is easier to spot faults in others than virtues in oneself.

-Rather die in hunger; I’d sooner eat a roast.

-A rich miser and a fat goat are of no use until they are dead.

-God loves the poor and helps the rich.

-O Lord, give me a good excuse!

-God will provide-if only God will provide until He provides.

-Treat me like a rabbi and watch me like a thief.

-If I dealt in candles, the sun wouldn’t set.

-Spare us what we can learn to endure.

-“For dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return”-betwixt and between, a little drink wouldn’t hurt.

-Dying while young is a boon in old age.

-No man suffers for another sins-he has enough of his own.

-They are madly in love, he with himself, she with herself.

-Ever since dying came into fashion, life hasn’t been safe.