Armenia Proverbs (40)

Ծառից խնձոր հեռու չի ընկնում.

“The apple does not fall far from the tree.”

Children tend to resemble their parents in character, values, and habits.

“As the mill needs two stones, so friendship needs two hearts.”

A real friendship, like a working mill, cannot function unless both sides take part in it.

“Whatever you sow, that is what you will reap.”

Your actions determine the results you will eventually receive.

“You are as many a person as the languages you know.”

Learning new languages multiplies who you are and how much of the world you can reach.

“Even if the nightingale is kept in a golden cage, she still dreams of returning to the forest.”

No amount of comfort can replace true freedom; the heart still longs for home.

“The sun will not stay behind the cloud.”

The truth will not remain hidden forever; it always comes out in the end.

“Let it be late, as long as it is good.”

A delay is worth accepting if it means the result is done properly.

“One fool threw a stone into the well, and forty wise men could not pull it out.”

A single careless act can create a problem that takes many capable people great effort to undo.

“However much fruit a tree bears, that much more it bows its head.”

True accomplishment brings humility rather than arrogance.

“If wisdom were in the beard, every goat would be a prophet.”

Age or appearance alone is no proof of wisdom.

“The bee draws honey and the snake draws poison from the very same flower.”

The same source can yield very different results, depending on the nature of who draws from it.

“One hand cannot clap alone.”

Nothing of real worth is accomplished alone; it takes cooperation between people.

Հյուրն Աստծո ընկերն է.

“A guest is God's friend.”

Welcoming a guest into your home is treated as a sacred, almost divine duty.

“Tell the truth, even if it breaks your knee.”

Honesty is worth the cost, however painful it may be to speak.

“Drop by drop, it becomes a sea.”

Small, steady efforts accumulate into something vast over time.

“A calf is not found under an ox.”

You cannot expect an outcome from a source that is simply not capable of producing it.

“A mule may know seven ways to swim, but the moment it sees the water it forgets them all.”

Confidence learned in theory can vanish the instant real pressure or fear arrives.

“A mule laden with gold is welcome at every castle.”

Wealth opens doors regardless of who or what is carrying it.

“A pain in the foot is soon forgotten; a pain in the head is not.”

Minor troubles fade quickly, but deeper worries linger far longer.

“The hen that lays the most, cackles the most.”

Real achievement often naturally announces itself.

“Even if he were the sun, he would not dry your handkerchief.”

Some people, however powerful or impressive, will still never lift a hand to help those close to them.

“Poverty is a shirt of fire.”

Poverty is an unrelenting, painful burden that clings to a person and never lets go.

“Better an experienced devil than an inexperienced angel.”

Skill and experience are often more valuable in practice than good intentions alone.

“If you want to make people laugh, tell them your troubles.”

A wry observation that others often find amusement in misfortunes that feel serious to the one living through them.

“Better a wise delinquent than a foolish saint.”

Intelligence paired with flaws is often more useful than virtue without sense.

“In his own home, even a mouse is a lion.”

People show far more confidence and boldness within their own domain than anywhere else.

“You cannot dig a well with a needle.”

Some undertakings demand the right tools and proper means, not effort alone.

“What the knife cuts can heal; what the tongue cuts cannot.”

Wounds caused by words can run deeper and last longer than physical injury.

Յոթ անգամ չափիր, մեկ անգամ կտրիր.

“Measure seven times, cut once.”

Think thoroughly and plan with care before taking an irreversible action.

Հացը կերածդ մի մոռանա.

“Do not forget the bread you have eaten.”

Never forget the kindness and nourishment that others once gave you.

“A girl with a golden cradle does not stay long in her father's house.”

However privileged or cherished a child is, she will still grow up and build a life of her own.

“A drowning man will clutch at straws.”

Desperation makes people grasp at any hope, however slim or unrealistic.

“Dogs quarrel among themselves, but against the wolf they are united.”

Rivals set aside their differences when they face a common threat.

“Advice is a free gift that can become expensive for the one who takes it.”

Unsolicited or poor advice, though costless to give, can end up costing the one who follows it.

“It is better to carry stones with a wise man than accept the meal of a fool.”

Hardship spent in the company of a wise person is worth more than comfort spent with a foolish one.

“The eagle was killed by an arrow fledged with his own feather.”

We often unknowingly provide the very means of our own downfall.

“Give shoulder to shoulder, and we can move mountains.”

Collective effort can accomplish what no individual could manage alone.

“Not every piece of wood becomes a ladle, nor every mountain a Masis.”

Not everyone or everything is capable of reaching the very same height of achievement.

“If you speak too much, you will learn too little.”

Listening teaches far more than talking ever can.

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people... See if they will not live again. See if they will not laugh again.”

A defiant declaration of Armenian survival and identity, written in memory of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.