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Posted By: of troy words to live by - 02/10/02 04:06 AM
Emanuala pointed out in another thread
about 2 for the money we say;
prendere due piccioni con una fava:
to catch two pigeons by means of (just) one broad bean (used as a bait).


and i let it drop.. but in english, the closer expression to match the italian would be:
To kill 2 birds with one stone..

before you've killed them, you better not count on them..
Don't count your chickens before they have hatched.
and a sure thing is always best
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

for every saying, it seems, there is one contrary--
Absences make the heart grow fonder.. or is it
Out of sight, out of mind!

which are your favorite little maxims.. and do you know the opposite? or a different language version?

Posted By: Max Quordlepleen . - 02/10/02 08:05 AM
Posted By: Faldage Re: words to live by - 02/10/02 01:33 PM
Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Out of sight, out of mind!

Not necessarily so opposite. When the object of our affections is out of sight we forget the bad things remembering only the good and become fonder.



Posted By: AnnaStrophic Re: words to live by - 02/10/02 02:30 PM
My favourite little max I'm.

Stunning use of anastrophe you provide!

Posted By: emanuela Re: words to live by - 02/10/02 04:04 PM
My favourite little max I'm.

That's more than GREAT, that's MAX!

Posted By: Wordwind Re: words to live by - 02/10/02 04:17 PM
Everything comes to him who waits.

Then Thomas Edison's take on the same:

Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.


Best regards,
WordWaiting

Posted By: Keiva Re: words to live by - 02/10/02 04:57 PM
Everything comes to him who waits.
Words my personal physician lives by: Everything waits who comes to him.



Posted By: Jackie Re: words to live by - 02/10/02 11:40 PM
My favourite little max I'm.
This was great--you're mine, too!

Posted By: WhitmanO'Neill Re: words to live by - 02/11/02 12:28 AM
Everything comes to him who waits.

Not he who waits on tables!

Posted By: Tsyganka Re: words to live by - 02/11/02 05:50 AM
Maxims and opposites:

You can't teach an old dog new tricks. - You're never too old to learn.

Look before you leap. - He who hesitates is lost.

A penny saved is a penny earned. - Penny wise, pound foolish.

But as for favorites, ahem. The ones below aren't time-honored, but they certainly Sound maxim-ish!

In the beginning, there was order. Random order.

You can't tell which way the train's gone by looking at the tracks.

Tsyganka, who finds that a bird in the hand is usually messy


Posted By: RhubarbCommando Re: words to live by - 02/11/02 07:41 PM
Everything comes to him who waits.

Not he who waits on tables!


They also wait, who only stand and serve

also

silence is golden, but the service is silver

Posted By: TheFallibleFiend Re: words to live by - 02/11/02 08:16 PM


The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

In Chinese, "Da shi hua xiao, xiao shi hua wu," meaning "Great things become (can be reduced to) small things, small things become (can be reduced to) nothing."


Another Chinese one is "Big fish eat little fish, little fish eat shrimp, shrimp eat <insert favorite slang term for 'feces' here>"

This is maybe roughly analogous to "Feces rolls down hill." I think there's a better one, but it eludes me at the moment. "The rich get richer while the poor get poorer?"



There's a German one that goes "Der Krug geht so lange zur quelle bis er bricht," meaning "The watering jug goes so many times to the well before it breaks." (Sometimes it's "zer wasser," meaning to the water.) German fellow told me an amusing joke that goes with this, "Der Student geht so lange zum Mensa bis er bricht," meaning "The student goes so many times to the cafeteria before he tosses his cookies." This is a play on the word brechen (bricht) meaning 'to break' and 'erbrechen,' 'to vomit.'

I'm sure there's an English verion. I heard of a french version once, but I don't remember how it went.


k


Posted By: of troy Re: words to live by - 02/11/02 08:59 PM
re: "The rich get richer while the poor get poorer?"


maybe this one:
God must truly love the poor, he made so many of them.
(its carved in stone on the old Daily News building on East 42nd Street NY--(far from times square, close to UN)

Posted By: Sparteye Re: words to live by - 02/12/02 02:00 PM
Spanish maxims (where are you, Marianna?)

Hablando del ruina de Roma por la puerta asoma = Speak of the fall of Rome it appears at the door = Speak of the devil ...

La ultima gota es la que hace rebosar el vaso = It's the final drop that makes the glass overflow = It's the final straw which breaks the camel's back.

Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda = A monkey dressed in silk is still a monkey = You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Hay muchos modoes de matar pulgas = There are many ways to kill fleas = There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Mas vale pajaro en mano que cien valando = A bird in the hand is worth more than a hundred flying = A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

La gallina del vecino pone mas huevos que la mia = The neighbor's hen lays more eggs than mine = The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Huyendo del toro, cayo en el arroyo = Fleeing from the bull, he fell into the brook = He jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

Posted By: Sparteye French Maxims - 02/12/02 02:17 PM
Loin des yeux, loin du coeur = Far from eyes, far from heart = Out of sight, out of mind.

Faute d'un point, Martin a perdu son ane = For the lack of one point, Martin lost his donkey = A miss is as good as a mile.

Quand le chat n'est pa la, les souris dansent = When the cat's away, the mice dance = When the cat's away, the mice will play.

Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps = One swallow doesn't make a spring = One swallow doesn't make a summer.

Ne vendez pas la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tue = Don't sell the bearskin before you've killed the bear = Don't count your chickens before they've hatched.

and, not a maxim, but an idiom which I must mention:

Avoir la langue bien pendue = to have a well-hung tongue = The gift of gab.

Posted By: Sparteye Italian maxims - 02/12/02 02:26 PM
Meglio fringuello in man che tordo in frasca = Better a finch in hand than a thrush on a branch = A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Troppi cuochi guastano il pranzo = Too many cooks spoil the dinner = Too many cooks spoil the broth.

Chi dorme, non piglia pesci = He who sleeps catches no fish = The early bird catches the worm.

Non fare il passo piu lungo della gamba = Don't take a step longer than your leg = Don't bit off more than you can chew.

Quando si e in ballo, bisogna ballare = When at a dance, one must dance = In for a penney, in for a pound.

Poco brigata, vita beata = The less company, the more peaceful life = (sort of) Two's company, three's a crowd.

Posted By: Faldage Re: Yiddish maxims - 02/12/02 02:40 PM
Az di mutr shrayt oyfn kind mamzer, meg mensh ir gloybn = If a mother calls her child a bastard you can believe her.

Eydr tsu shtarbn fon hungr, es is shoyn besr tsu essn gebratns = Rather than die of hunger, I'd sooner eat a roast.

Libe iz vi putr, siz gut tsum broyt = Love is like butter, it goes well with bread.



Posted By: Sparteye Latin maxims - 02/12/02 03:03 PM
Cave tibi cane muto, aqua silente = Beware of the silent dog and still water.

Semper graculus assidet graculo = A blackbird always sits close to a blackbird = Birds of a feather flock together.

Mortuo leoni et lepores insultant = The lion dies and even the hares insult him.

Felix ille tamen corvo quoque rarior albo = A happy man is rarer than a white crow.

Terretur minimo pennae stridore columba. Unguibus, accipiter, saucia facta tuis = O hawk, the dove that's been wounded by your talons is frightened by the least flutter of a feather = One bitten, twice shy.

Habet et musca splenem = Even a fly has a spleen.

Dum felis dormit, mus gaudet et exsilit antro = When the cats fall asleep, the mouse rejoices and leaps from his hole = When the cat's away, the mice will play.

Lucri bonus odor ex re qualibet = The smell of profits is good whatever it comes from.

Pecunia regina mundi Money is the queen of the world = Money makes the world go around.

Nec quicquam acrius quam pecuniae damnum stimulat = Nothing stings more deeply than the loss of money.

Absens haeres non erit The absent one will not be the heir.

Malum vas non frangitur = A bad vase doesn't break.

Sero venientibus ossa = Bones for those who come late = First come, first served; or The early bird catches the worm.

Rufos esse minus fideles = Redheads are less trustworthy.

Altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi = The deepest rivers flow with the least sound = Still waters run deep.

Inest sua gratia parvis = Even little things have their peculiar grace.

Dum vivimus, vivamus = While we live, let us live.

Ne sutor ultra crepidam = Let the cobbler stick to his sandals.

Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaque labra = Many things slip between cup and lip = There is many a slip between cup and lip.

Non est fumus absque igne = There's no smoke without fire = Where there is smoke, there is fire.

Bis dat qui cito dat = He give twice who gives quickly.

Saxum volutum non obducitur musco = A rolling stone is not covered with moss = A rolling stone gathers no moss.

Dictum sapienti sat est = A word to the wise is sufficient.

Quis vult vitare Charybdim incidit in Scyllam = He who wishes to avoid Charybdis falls into Scylla = Jump from the frying pan into the fire.

Cuiuslibet est solum, eius usque ad coelum = He who has property in the soil has the same up to the sky.

Exceptio probat regulam The exception proves the rule.

Corruptio optimi psessima = The corruption of the best is the worst.

Omnia vincit amor = Love conquers all.

De gustibus non est disputandum = Thjere is no disputing tastes = There is no accounting for taste.

Ignorantia legis neminum excusat = Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Nimium ne crede colori = Don't trust too much in appearances = You can't tell a book by its cover.

Aegroto dum anima est, spes est = To the sick, while there is life, there is hope.

Praemonitus praemunitus = Forewarned, forearmed.

Qualis pater talis filius = Like father, like son.

Qui me amat, amat et canem meam = Who loves me, loves my dog.

Mulier cupido quod dicit amanti, in vento et rapida scribere oportet aqua = What a woman says to her fond lover should be written on air or the swift water.

Aperte mala cum est mulier, tum demum est bona = When a woman is openly bad she is then at her best.

And from Martial, Roman epigrammatist (AD 40 - 102):

Calvo turpius est nihil compto = There's nothing more contemptible than a bald man who pretends to have hair.

Si post fata venit gloria non propero = If fame comes after death, I'm in no hurry for it.



Posted By: Faldage Re: Latin maxims - 02/12/02 03:10 PM
Habet et musca splenem = 'Splain me why you have a habit of eating musksticks.

Posted By: TheFallibleFiend Re: Latin maxims - 02/12/02 04:32 PM


One of my favorites:

Qui docet, discet. = He who teaches, learns.

Posted By: wofahulicodoc probing the rule - 02/13/02 01:10 AM
Exceptio probat regulam -The exception proves the rule.


Did I miss something along the way? I learned that one as
"The exception tests the rule" - if it couldn't account for the apparent exception, the rule didn't hold...

Posted By: Keiva Re: probing the rule - 02/13/02 01:12 AM
Yes -- prove being a synonym for test, as in the phrase proving grounds.

Posted By: Max Quordlepleen . - 02/13/02 01:52 AM
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Re: probing the rule - 02/13/02 02:08 AM
prove being a synonym for test, as in the phrase proving grounds

Sure, but that's not the way it's generally interpreted in the modern parlance. Usually it's taken as meaning "demonstrates the validity of," which is something else entirely.


Posted By: belMarduk Re: Yiddish maxims - 02/13/02 03:06 AM
Allo Faldage,

I don't understand the Rather than die of hunger, I'd sooner eat a roast. maxim.

Does the roast have any particular meaning? I must be misunderstanding something because the way I read it, it says "I'd rather eat meat than starve" and that is pretty self evident cause we eat every day.

Posted By: Keiva Re: probing the rule - 02/13/02 03:24 AM
Sure, but that's not the way it's generally interpreted in the modern parlance.

Agreed that what you note is the general interpretation. Also agreed that the statement, when so interpreted, is entirely different -- and, I'd think, is untrue. In other words, I'm suggesting that the "general interpretation" perverts the meaning of the maxim.

Bartleby, http://www.bartleby.com/68/30/2330.html more or less supports the reading I gave above.

But on further LIU I suspect that the original meaning is completely different. Cicero: Quod si exceptio facit ne liceat, ubi necesse est licere, or roughly, [help me here, faldage] "That which a special provision makes illegal in some circumstances, is thus [by inference] shown to be legal in all other circumstances." There are old English law cases that express this as Exceptio probat regulam de rebus non exceptis ("The exception proves [confirms] the rule so far as concerns the matters not excepted.")
Posted By: Keiva Re: Yiddish maxims - 02/13/02 03:38 AM
An endless list -- but among my favorites:

When a father helps a son, both smile; when a son must help his father, both cry.

When a young man marries, he divorces his mother.

With little children, little troubles; with big children, big troubles.

A man is not honest just because he has had no chance to steal.

A saloon can't corrupt a good man, and a synagogue can't reform a bad one.

If triangles had a God, He would have three sides.

"For instance" is not proof.

Safeguarding a girl in love is harder than guarding a sackful of fleas.

A rabbi whose congregation doesn't want to run him out of town isn't a rabbi; and a rabbi whose congregation does run him out of town isn't a man.

Posted By: Keiva Re: Maaori Maxims - 02/13/02 03:46 AM
Max, I can't vouch for these as being NZ Maaori, but so says the source in which I found them:

Little dogs make the most noise.

No one needs help to get into trouble.

An obedient wife commands her man.

Idle young men become unhappy old men.

Posted By: TheFallibleFiend Re: words to live by - 02/13/02 12:37 PM

I don't know how this is said in other languages, but my grandpa used to tell me

"Shoot fer the moon if ya do hit a potato."


I've always liked it.

k


Posted By: Faldage Re: shtarbn fon hungr - 02/13/02 01:50 PM
It does seem rather self evident, doesn't it? But then so does the mamzr one. The libe iz vi putr has me scratching my head.

I've heard it explained on some obscure philological grounds that the roast in question was a pork roast, but I'm not sure I believe the argument. The conclusion makes sense just all by itself; it says that it's OK to break kosher rather than starve. I remember a scene from one of the myriad Entebbe movies that came out after the successful raid in which a young woman was desperately trying to convince her very orthodox grandfather that it said in the Torah that it was OK to eat nonkosher if the alternative was starving to death.
On the other hand, it might just be a response to something like, "I sure don't want to go to that little brat's bar mitzvah. I'd rather just stay at home and watch TV."

On the third hand, that shoyn besr might not be best translated with "I'd rather".

Posted By: Sparteye Re: Yiddish maxims - 02/13/02 02:59 PM
I don't understand the Rather than die of hunger, I'd sooner eat a roast maxim.


Heh. I thought that maybe he was referring to my mother-in-law's cooking.



Posted By: Jackie Re: Yiddish maxims - 02/13/02 03:10 PM
I'd sooner eat a roast maxim
AUGH! Don't eat my sweet Maxie!!!

Posted By: Chemeng1992 Re: Yiddish maxims - 02/13/02 05:30 PM
I don't hear 'your sweet Maxie' opposing the idea!

Posted By: WhitmanO'Neill Re: words to live by - 02/13/02 06:48 PM
He who hesitates is lost.

If sometimes we don't get lost, there's a chance we may never find our way.

The big thing is to do it. --Kit Karson

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses!

Give me a fish and I eat for a day. Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime.

A great deal of talent is lost in the world for want of a little courage.

We grow too soon alt, und too late schmart. --Pennsylvania Dutch

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. --Madame Curie

There but for the grace of God go I. --St. Francis of Assissi

Never judge another man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins. --Native American

Whenever they call me a dreamer, I think of Walt Disney and smile.

Only the hand that erases can write the true thing. --Meister Eckhardt

Enjoy life!...you might have been a barnacle.

Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it. --Wm Shakespeare

The important thing
is this:
to be able at any moment
to sacrifice
what we are
for what we could become. --Charles Du Bois

Maxims are the condensed good sense of nations. --Sir J. Mackintosh

Love the one you're with. --Stephen Stills



Posted By: Sparteye Re: words to live by - 02/13/02 07:16 PM
It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness. -- Somebody

Stupid darkness! -- Lucy VanPelt

Posted By: Faldage Re: words to live by - 02/13/02 07:25 PM
Stupid darkness!

Without darkness there would be no light. -- Somebody Else

Posted By: Rapunzel Re: words to live by - 02/13/02 08:19 PM
We grow too soon alt, und too late schmart. --Pennsylvania Dutch

I've seen this countless times in cheap touristy booklets of "PA Dutch" or "Amish" sayings, yet I've never heard a genuine Pennsylvania Dutchman/woman actually say it. How about you, Byb?



Posted By: of troy Re: words to live by - 02/13/02 08:47 PM
Every one brings joy to my life, some when they arrive, some when they depart.


i used to have this as a poster in my office.. and i might yet print it up in fancy fonts, and frame it..

Posted By: WhitmanO'Neill Re: words to live by - 02/13/02 09:13 PM
I never met a man I didn't like. --Will Rogers

I never liked a man I didn't meet. --Roger Wills

Posted By: TheFallibleFiend Re: words to live by - 02/13/02 10:24 PM
Since someone has asked me what it means to "shoot for the moon if you do hit a potato," I will say that I take it to roughly mean "it's the journey that counts, and not the destination."


k


Posted By: Angel Re: words to live by - 02/14/02 01:41 AM
"I know God will not give anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." ~~ Mother Teresa

"Love cures people--both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it." ~~ Dr. Karl Menninger

"He has put his angels in charge of you to watch over you wherever you go." ~~ Psalm 91:11

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." ~~ Abraham Lincoln

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." ~~ Helen Keller

"The love we give away is the only love we keep." ~~ Elbert Hubbard

"Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be." ~~ Grandma Moses

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." ~~ Edit Wharton

"Do what you can with what you have, where you are." ~~ Theodore Roosevelt

"We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it." ~~ Mark Twain

"Life isn't a matter of milestones but of moments." ~~ Rose Kennedy

"Nothing is worth more than this day." ~~ Goethe

Posted By: stales Re: words to live by - 02/14/02 04:02 AM
Taking the title of Helen's post literally, I thought a quote in today's newspaper was very apt. Certainly one which I try to live by (as you know Jackie - knowing wink -e)


"You celebrate by being alive, not by going to the party"
- Ben Kingsley (in response to the question how would he celebrate his latest Oscar nomination)

stales

Posted By: Faldage Re: words to live by - 02/14/02 02:33 PM
You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here...

-- Not found in an old Baltimore church.

Posted By: wofahulicodoc Pennsylvania - 02/14/02 02:46 PM

We grow too soon alt, und too late schmart. --Pennsylvania Dutch


(Should be "Pennsylvania Deutsch," actually, shouldn't it?)

I've seen this countless times in cheap touristy booklets of "PA Dutch" or "Amish" sayings, yet I've never heard a genuine Pennsylvania Dutchman/woman actually say it

Concur in every particular. Does it have a more-than-apocryphal history, or is it perhaps just another Urban Legend?

Posted By: Jackie Re: words to live by - 02/14/02 03:05 PM
"You celebrate by being alive, not by going to the party"
Indeed, my Dear. Blessings. I have another reason to send up a prayer today, as well. TBTG.

Posted By: Rubrick Kingsley anecdotes - 02/15/02 11:13 AM
"You celebrate by being alive, not by going to the party"
- Ben Kingsley (in response to the question how would he celebrate his latest Oscar nomination)


Ben Kingsley once gave an interview here in my University a few years ago. As well as being very approachable (and very small!!) he also has an acute sense of humour, he's a brilliant mimic and has some wonderful anecdotes. Here are a couple.

'After a performance in Stratford I was approached by an impending woman who announced to me "I was a young girl in India, Mr. Kingsley, and I have to say that your performance in A Passage to India was superb'.

'A Passage to India? But I wasn't in A Passage to India!' To which she emphasised, 'Oh, I think you'll find you were.'"


I love being recognised in public. The only problem is that I'm always being mistaken for other actors. An American girl once approached me after I'd completed a particularly gruelling lead role in a performance of Richard III.

'It's you, isn't it?', she said. 'Yes' I said with a humble smile. 'It's me'.

'It's really you' she went on. 'Yes, it's really me'.

'Oh, great', she finally said. 'I just loved you in Star Trek'"


Posted By: Bobyoungbalt Re: Pennsylvania - 02/16/02 02:24 AM
Matter of fact, I have heard someone in my family use this expression, either my father or my grandfather. The fact that an expression, or for that matter a quilt pattern or a picture of an Amish child in their peculiar garb, etc., ends up on kitschy stuff sold to tourists doesn't invalidate it as being, or having sometime been, real. It just becomes trite, hence hokey, which is a pity.

Posted By: Bobyoungbalt Re: words to live by - 02/16/02 02:39 AM
I have not contributed to this thread thus far, having enjoyed what everyone else has supplied. So I guess it's about time to put in my favorite set of maxims, which is not a one-liner.

To ride abroad redressing human wrongs,
To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it,
To honor his own word as if his God's,
To lead sweet lives in purest chastity,
To love one maiden only, cleave to her,
And worship her by years of noble deeds,
Until they won her; for indeed I knew
Of no more subtle master under heaven
Than is the maiden passion for a maid,
Not only to keep down the base in man,
But teach high thought, and amiable words
And courtliness, and the desire of fame,
And love of truth, and all that makes a man.


-- Tennyson, Idylls of the King

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