#56147 - 02/11/02 02:41 PM
Re: words to live by
|
Pooh-Bah
Registered: 08/23/00
Posts: 2204
|
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
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#56148 - 02/11/02 03:16 PM
Re: words to live by
|
veteran
Registered: 01/23/02
Posts: 1523
Loc: Virginia, USA
|
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
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#56151 - 02/12/02 09:17 AM
French Maxims
|
Pooh-Bah
Registered: 01/05/01
Posts: 1773
|
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.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#56154 - 02/12/02 10:03 AM
Latin maxims
|
Pooh-Bah
Registered: 01/05/01
Posts: 1773
|
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.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
8453 Members
16 Forums
13691 Topics
210116 Posts
Max Online: 3341 @ 12/09/11 02:15 PM
|
|
|
0 registered (),
70
Guests and
1
Spider online. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
|
30
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Search
Previous Topic
Index