الماضي أشبه بالمستقبل من شبه الماء بالماء
“The past resembles the future more than one drop of water resembles another.”
History tends to repeat its patterns, since human nature and social forces recur across generations.
— Ibn Khaldun, Tunisia
Source: Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah (Rosenthal translation, 1958), Introduction
More Proverbs from Tunisia
Patience is the key to relief.
Enduring hardship with patience eventually leads to a way out.
Traditional Tunisia Wisdom
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He who digs a pit for his brother falls into it himself.
Plotting harm against others often backfires on the one who plots it.
Traditional Tunisia Wisdom
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One hand alone does not clap.
Cooperation is needed to accomplish what a single person cannot do alone.
Traditional Tunisia Wisdom
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Every dog is a lion in his own home.
People act bold and confident on their own familiar ground.
Traditional Tunisia Wisdom
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Give the bread to its baker, even if he eats half of it.
Trust a task to the person who truly knows the craft, even if it costs you something.
Traditional Tunisia Wisdom
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What has passed is gone; do not dwell on it.
Let go of the past instead of dwelling on what cannot be changed.
Traditional Tunisia Wisdom
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