List of Israeli Proverbs Sayings
Israeli proverbs are a reflection of the wisdom and culture of the Israeli people. These proverbs often carry deep meanings and provide insights into life, relationships, and human nature. Here are some Israeli proverbs and sayings that offer valuable lessons and perspectives:
1. "A man's mouth often breaks his nose."
This proverb reminds us of the power of words and the consequences of speaking without wisdom. It emphasizes the importance of thinking before speaking and considering the potential impact of our words on others.
2. "He who has patience can see with his own eyes."
This saying encourages us to practice patience and perseverance. It highlights the idea that rushing through life may cause us to overlook important details, while patience allows us to observe and understand more deeply.
3. "A bird that you set free may be caught again, but a word that escapes your lips will not return."
This powerful proverb underscores the lasting impact of our words. It serves as a reminder to choose our words carefully, as once spoken, they cannot be taken back.
4. "Even a fish wouldn't get into trouble if it kept its mouth shut."
This humorous saying conveys the idea that sometimes it's best to remain silent. It reminds us that speaking impulsively or unnecessarily can lead to trouble, and that there is wisdom in restraint.
5. "The morning knows what the evening will never understand."
This proverb speaks to the inevitability of experience and the way it shapes our understanding. It suggests that some aspects of life can only be comprehended through lived experience, and that wisdom often comes with time.
Israeli proverbs and sayings like these offer timeless wisdom and insight, allowing us to reflect on our actions, words, and relationships. They provide a window into the culture and values of the Israeli people, offering lessons that resonate across cultures and generations.
Prepare your proof before you argue. |
Worries go down better with soup. |
A pessimist, confronted with two bad choices, chooses both. |
Don’t trust someone who tells you all of his troubles and keeps you from all of his joys. |
Ask about your neighbors, then buy the house. |
Who finds a faithful friend, finds a treasure. |
First improve yourself, and then judge others. |
Do not ask questions of fairy tales. |
The favorite place of God is in the heart of man. |
I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet. |
Even the most expensive clock still shows sixty minutes in every hour. |
As he thinks in his heart, so he is. |
God couldn’t be everywhere, so he created mothers. |
Life is the biggest bargain. We get it for nothing. |
What you don’t see with your eyes, don’t witness with your mouth. |
God gives burdens also shoulders. |
Don’t live in a town where there are no doctors. |
Let your ears hear what your mouth says. |
With money in your pocket, you are wise, and you are handsome, and you sing well too. |
Charity is the spice of riches. |
He who puts up with insult invites injury. |
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. |
Don’t open a shop unless you know how to smile. |
If there is bitterness in the heart, sugar in the mouth won't make life sweeter. |
Do not meet troubles half-way. |
The good fellow to everyone is a good friend to no one. |
A pessimist, confronted with two bad choices, chooses both. |
Make sure to send a lazy man the angel of death. |
Don’t look for more honor than your learning merits. |
What one has, one doesn’t want, and what one wants, one doesn’t have. |
The only truly dead are those who have been forgotten. |
If you can’t go over, you must go under. |
Love is a sweet dream, and marriage is the alarm clock. |
People make plans and God laughs. |
The worst life is better than the best death. |
You don’t need intelligence to have luck, but you do need luck to have intelligence. |
He that can’t endure the bad, will not live to see the good. |
The man who gives little with a smile gives more than the man who gives much with a frown. |
If you lie on the ground, you cannot fall. |
God is closest to those with broken hearts. Truth is the safest lie. |
Pride joined with many virtues chokes them all. |
He who prays for his neighbor will be heard for himself. |
Where two Jews, three opinions. |
Don’t make a fence more expensive or more important than what it is fencing. |
Loose tongues are worse than wicked hands. |
Among those who laugh, do not weep; among those who weep, do not laugh. |
You can’t force anyone to love you or to lend you money. |
Do not make yourself so big, you are not so small. |
Everything revolves around bread and death. |
Pride is the mask of one’s own faults. |
What the daughter does, the mother did. |
If you don’t aspire to great things, you won’t attain small things. |
Let a good man do good deeds with the same zeal that the evil man does bad ones. |
What soap is for the body, tears are for the soul. |
People make plans and God laughs. |
One mother achieves more than a hundred teachers. |
He that does not bring up his son to some honest calling and employment brings him up to be a thief. |
Because you have drowned others, you were drowned, and in the end, those who drowned you will be drowned. |
Better an honest smack in the face than a false kiss. |
When two divorced people marry, four people get into bed. |
Not to have felt pain is not to have been human. |
If not for fear, sin would be sweet. |
A slave shows his true character, not while he is enslaved but when he becomes a master. |
Whoever does not try, does not learn. |
Commit a sin twice and it will not seem a crime. |
A half-truth is a whole lie. |
When con men meet a legitimately honest man, they are so bewildered that they consider him a greater con man than themselves. |
When you're hungry, sing; when you're hurt, laugh. |
Don’t pick a wasp out of a cream-jug. |
Never trust the man who tells you all his troubles but keeps from you all his joys. |
Whoever enjoys his life is doing the Creator’s will. |
Sympathy doesn’t provide food, but it makes hunger more endurable. |
You can't force anyone to love you or lend you money. |
All things grow with time - except grief. |
We do not see things the way they are but as we are. |
Don’t approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or a fool from any side. |
Be sure to send a lazy man for the angel of death. |
A half-truth is a whole lie. When you open a door, don’t forget to close it. |
If the rich could hire someone else to die for them, the poor would make a wonderful living. |
Worries go down better with soup than without. |
Hospitality is one form of worship. In a restaurant choose a table near a waiter. |
A bird that you set free may be caught again, but a word that escapes your lips will not return. |
When a habit begins to cost money, it’s called a hobby. |
If charity cost nothing, the world would be full of philanthropists. |
Do not respond to a barking dog. |
There is no book that contains absolutely nothing bad, and there is no book that contains absolutely nothing good. |
If you can't go over, you must go under. |
You only hear three voices in this world: the babbling of the stream, Jewish law, and money. |
Against stupidity; God Himself is helpless. |
The righteous say little and do much. A slave shows his true character, not while he is enslaved but when he becomes a master. |
Anyone who teases you loves you. |
Treat your mouth accordingly. Taxes grow without rain. |
Don’t make toil of pleasure. |
A mother understands what a child does not say. |
What one has, one doesn't want, and what one wants, one doesn't have. * |
Locks keep out only the honest. |
If God lived on earth, people would break his windows. |
God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers. |
Look for the good, not the evil, in the conduct of members of the family. |
What you give for the cause of charity in health is gold; what you give in sickness is silver; what you give after death is lead. |
I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders. |
First mend yourself, and then mend others. |
When you have no choice, mobilize the spirit of courage. |
Never kiss an ugly girl; she will tell everyone. |
One of life's greatest mysteries is how the boy who wasn't good enough to marry your daughter can be the father of the smartest grandchild in the world. |
As you teach, you learn. |
If you want your dreams to come true, don't sleep. |
What you don't see with your eyes, don't invent with your mouth. |
It is easier to guard a sack full of fleas than a girl in love. |
A person worries about the past, distresses about the present, and fears the future. |
Pride that dined with vanity supped with poverty. |
Don't approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or a fool from any side. |
If there is bitterness in the heart, sugar in the mouth won’t make life sweeter. |
Beware of the person who gives you advice according to his own interests. |
Only love gives us the taste of eternity. |
In choosing a friend, go up a step. |
Don’t sell the sun to buy a candle. |
When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry. |
Don’t be too sweet lest you be eaten up; don’t be too bitter lest you be spewed out. |
One of life’s greatest mysteries is how the boy who wasn’t good enough to marry your daughter can be the father of the smartest grandchild in the world. |
Sympathy is a little medicine to soothe the ache in another’s heart. |
Time heals old pain, while it creates new ones. |
Loneliness breaks the spirit. |
Don't be too sweet lest you be eaten up; don't be too bitter lest you be spewed out. |
The poor fool is a man who falls on his back and breaks his nose. |
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