“Drop by drop, a lake forms.”
Damlaya damlaya göl olur.
Source: Traditional Turkish proverb, public-domain oral tradition
Traditional Turkey Wisdom
Türk atasözleri
Folk & Oral Tradition
Who is Traditional Turkey Wisdom?
Traditional Turkey Wisdom gathers the proverbs and sayings (atasözleri) that have been passed down orally among the Turkish people for generations. These lines have no single named author; they are the shared inheritance of farmers, shepherds, artisans, elders, and storytellers who compressed hard-won experience into a few memorable words. Turkish proverbs often draw on rural life, water and land, animals, neighbourliness, family duty, and the ethics of work and patience, and they teach thrift, cooperation, foresight, and caution in speech. Much of this wisdom overlaps with the wider Turkic and Anatolian oral tradition, and it lives alongside the humorous teaching tales of figures such as Nasreddin Hoca. Because they survive 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 Turkish oral tradition (atasözleri), public-domain folk wisdom · Turkish proverb tradition — widely recognised public-domain sayings of Anatolia
Quotes by Traditional Turkey Wisdom
“One hand has nothing, two hands make a sound.”
Bir elin nesi var, iki elin sesi var.
Source: Traditional Turkish proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“Save the straw, its time will come.”
Sakla samanı, gelir zamanı.
Source: Traditional Turkish proverb, public-domain oral tradition
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“A tree is bent while it is young.”
Ağaç yaş iken eğilir.
Source: Traditional Turkish proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“He who loves the rose endures its thorns.”
Gülü seven dikenine katlanır.
Source: Traditional Turkish proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“A hungry hen imagines itself in a wheat silo.”
Aç tavuk kendini buğday ambarında sanır.
Source: Traditional Turkish proverb, public-domain oral tradition
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“You reap what you sow.”
Ne ekersen onu biçersin.
Source: Traditional Turkish proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“Working iron shines.”
İşleyen demir ışıldar.
Source: Traditional Turkish proverb, public-domain oral tradition
“Do not leave today's work to tomorrow.”
Bugünün işini yarına bırakma.
Source: Traditional Turkish proverb, public-domain oral tradition
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“A neighbor is in need of a neighbor's ashes.”
Komşu komşunun külüne muhtaçtır.
Source: Traditional Turkish proverb, public-domain oral tradition