“Excessive greed ruins the weaver.”
অতি লোভে তাঁতি নষ্ট
Source: Traditional Bengali proverb, public-domain oral tradition
Traditional Bangladesh Wisdom
বাংলা প্রবাদ
Folk & Oral Tradition
Who is Traditional Bangladesh Wisdom?
Traditional Bangladesh Wisdom gathers the proverbs and sayings (প্রবাদ) that have been passed down orally among the Bengali people for generations. These lines have no single named author; they are the shared inheritance of farmers, boatmen, weavers, mothers, and village storytellers who compressed hard-won experience into a few memorable words. Bengali proverbs draw richly on rice paddies, rivers and monsoon rains, jackfruit and fishing, family duty, and everyday village life, and they teach patience, humility, honesty, and caution in speech. Many warn against greed, empty boasting, and hypocrisy, while others gently mock those who blame their tools or circumstances for their own shortcomings. Because they live in everyday conversation rather than in a single fixed printed source, small variations exist between regions and retellings across Bangladesh and the wider Bengali-speaking world. This platform records the widely recognised forms and, in keeping with its accuracy rule, presents them as traditional public-domain oral wisdom rather than attributing them to any one person.
Sources: Traditional Bengali oral tradition (বাংলা প্রবাদ), public-domain folk wisdom · Widely recorded Bengali proverbs (prabad) of Bangladesh and the Bengali-speaking world
Quotes by Traditional Bangladesh Wisdom
“When you cannot dance, you blame the courtyard for being crooked.”
নাচতে না জানলে উঠান বাঁকা
Source: Traditional Bengali proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“It does not rain as much as it thunders.”
যত গর্জে তত বর্ষে না
Source: Traditional Bengali proverb, public-domain oral tradition
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“The thief's mother has the loudest voice.”
চোরের মায়ের বড় গলা
Source: Traditional Bengali proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“The jackfruit is still on the tree, yet oil is on the moustache.”
গাছে কাঁঠাল গোঁফে তেল
Source: Traditional Bengali proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“A tight knot makes a slip-loose bind.”
বজ্র আঁটুনি ফস্কা গেরো
Source: Traditional Bengali proverb, public-domain oral tradition
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“If you throw a clod, you must expect a brickbat in return.”
ঢিল মারলে পাটকেল খেতে হয়
Source: Traditional Bengali proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“A little learning is a dangerous thing.”
অল্প বিদ্যা ভয়ংকরী
Source: Traditional Bengali proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“A pearl necklace around a monkey's neck.”
বানরের গলায় মুক্তার মালা
Source: Traditional Bengali proverb, public-domain oral tradition
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“The blind boy is named Lotus-Eyed.”
কানা ছেলের নাম পদ্মলোচন
Source: Traditional Bengali proverb, public-domain oral tradition