Saint Lucia Proverbs (22)

“The Land, The People, The Light.”

Saint Lucia's national motto, expressing the unity of the island's land, its people, and their shared hope for enlightenment and the future.

“Sons and daughters of Saint Lucia, love the land that gave us birth.”

The opening line of the national anthem, calling on citizens to love and honor their homeland.

“The sea is history.”

Walcott's famous line reframes the Caribbean Sea itself as the true archive of the region's history, holding the memory of the Middle Passage and colonization that written records erased.

“Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole.”

From his Nobel lecture, Walcott argues that Caribbean culture, shattered by colonialism and slavery, is made whole again through an act of love more powerful than any original, unbroken wholeness.

“The time will come when you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror, and each will smile at the other's welcome.”

One of Walcott's most quoted poems, describing the quiet return to self-acceptance after a period of searching for love or identity elsewhere.

“I who am poisoned with the blood of both, where shall I turn, divided to the vein?”

Written about the divided loyalties of a colonized people caught between the culture of the colonizer and their own African heritage.

“This is how, one sunrise, we cut down them canoes.”

The opening line of Walcott's epic poem Omeros, which reimagines Homeric epic through the lives of Saint Lucian fishermen.

“The advantage of economic growth is not that wealth increases happiness, but that it increases the range of human choice.”

Lewis argued that the true value of development lies not in material comfort itself, but in expanding the freedom and options available to people.

“Little by little, the bird builds its nest.”

Patience and small, steady effort eventually build something substantial.

“Time longer than rope.”

Given enough time, everything is eventually revealed or resolved; patience outlasts any hardship.

“One one cocoa full basket.”

Contributions added one at a time, however small, eventually fill the whole basket; steady accumulation builds wealth or achievement.

“Not every day is a fishing day.”

Opportunities and good conditions do not come every day, so one should work and provide while the chance is there.

“Every day the bucket goes to the well, one day the bottom will drop out.”

A risk taken over and over eventually catches up with the person who keeps taking it.

“Play with puppy, puppy lick your mouth.”

Allowing too much familiarity, especially with those beneath one's guard, invites disrespect.

“The higher the monkey climbs, the more he shows his tail.”

The higher a person rises in status or pride, the more their flaws and true nature are exposed.

“What is for you cannot be un-for you.”

What fate has set aside for a person will eventually reach them, and cannot be taken by another.

“Little axe cut down big tree.”

Persistent small effort, applied steadily, can eventually bring down even the largest obstacle.

“Every skin teeth is not a laugh.”

A smile does not always mean friendliness; appearances of goodwill can hide other intentions.

“A hungry man is an angry man.”

Unmet basic needs breed frustration and anger; hardship shortens a person's patience.

“One finger can't catch fleas.”

A single person acting alone cannot accomplish what a group working together can.

“The classics can console. But not enough.”

From the opening of Omeros, Walcott suggests that the inherited literary tradition of Europe offers comfort to the Caribbean writer, but cannot fully answer to Caribbean experience on its own.

“I met History once, but he ain't recognize me.”

A line from "The Schooner Flight," voiced by the sailor Shabine, on being unseen and unaccounted for by official written history despite carrying its full weight.