“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Quem não arrisca, não petisca.
Source: Traditional Portugal proverb, public-domain oral tradition
Traditional Portugal Wisdom
Provérbios Portugueses
Folk & Oral Tradition
Who is Traditional Portugal Wisdom?
Traditional Portugal Wisdom gathers the proverbs and sayings (provérbios) that have been passed down orally among the Portuguese people for generations. These lines have no single named author; they are the shared inheritance of farmers, fishermen, sailors, shepherds, and elders who compressed hard-won experience into a few memorable words. Portuguese proverbs often draw on the sea and seafaring, rural life and the seasons, animals, family, faith, and the everyday work of the fields and vineyards, and they teach patience, prudence, humility, and caution in speech. Shaped by centuries of Roman, Catholic, and Mediterranean influence, and carried across the world during the Age of Discovery, this body of folk wisdom is closely related to the wider Iberian and Latin proverb tradition. Because these sayings live in everyday speech rather than in a single fixed printed source, small variations exist between regions and retellings. This platform records the widely recognised forms and, in keeping with its accuracy rule, presents them as traditional rather than attributing them to any one person.
Sources: Traditional Portuguese oral tradition (provérbios portugueses), public-domain folk wisdom · Portuguese proverb and paremiology scholarship — widely recognised traditional forms
Quotes by Traditional Portugal Wisdom
“Past waters do not turn mills.”
Águas passadas não movem moinhos.
Source: Traditional Portugal proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“After the storm comes the calm.”
Depois da tempestade vem a bonança.
Source: Traditional Portugal proverb, public-domain oral tradition
Sponsored
ZakGT — the world's books & quotes, by country
Real words. Real people. One global standard.
“A bird in the hand is worth two in flight.”
Mais vale um pássaro na mão do que dois a voar.
Source: Traditional Portugal proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“A barking dog does not bite.”
Cão que ladra não morde.
Source: Traditional Portugal proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“Who wants everything loses everything.”
Quem tudo quer, tudo perde.
Source: Traditional Portugal proverb, public-domain oral tradition
Sponsored
ZakGT — the world's books & quotes, by country
Real words. Real people. One global standard.
“Grain by grain, the hen fills her crop.”
Grão a grão enche a galinha o papo.
Source: Traditional Portugal proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“Slowly one goes far.”
Devagar se vai ao longe.
Source: Traditional Portugal proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“A robbed house, bars on the door.”
Casa roubada, trancas à porta.
Source: Traditional Portugal proverb, public-domain oral tradition
Sponsored
ZakGT — the world's books & quotes, by country
Real words. Real people. One global standard.
“There is no beauty without a flaw.”
Não há bela sem senão.
Source: Traditional Portugal proverb, public-domain oral tradition