Galician Proverbs

A

* A capar apréndese cortando collons (to castrate -pigs- is learnt by cutting balls)

* Aproveitar o farelo é tirar a fariña (to use the bran is to waste the flour)

* A quen Deus non dá fillos, o demo cobre de sobriños (To whom god doesn't give children, the devil saturates him with nephews)

C

* Cabalo grande, ande ou non ande (may the horse be big, whether it walks or not)

* Cando hai fame non hai pan duro (When one is hungry, there's no hard bread)

* Cando o frade da a ovella, colle a corda e vai por ela. (When the priest offers you a lamb, grab a leash and go get it)

* Can que moito lambe saca o sangue (the dog that licks too much will draw blood)

* Can que moito ladra non morde (The dog that barks a lot won't bite)

* Comer e cozar todo é comezar. (To eat and to itch comes after the beginning)

D

* Deus dá codias a quen non tén dentes. (God gives crusts to those without teeth)

E

* En abril sai o cuco do cubil (In April the cuckoo comes out of its hole)
* En maio ainda a vella garda o tallo (In May still the old lady wears the winter clothes)

* Entre pau e pau descansa o lombo (In between strokes you can give your back a rest)

* Estar na horta e non ver as berzas (Being in the vegetable garden and not seeing the cabbage - You cannot see it even if it's in front of you)

M

* Meu dito meu feito (No sooner said than done)

* Morra o gato, morra farto. (Once the cat has to die, let it die full)

* Mais vale sabela que porfiala (It's better to know a matter than to learn trying it again and again)

N

* Na casa do ferreiro, coitelo de pau. (Wooden knife at blacksmith's home)

* Na terra de lobos, oubear coma todos (In land of wolves, you must howl like them)

* Non se collen as troitas coas pernas enxoitas. (No trouts are caught with dry legs)

* Nunca choveu que non escampara. (It never rained without clearing up afterwards)

* Non querías caldo? pois toma dúas cuncas! (didn't you want soup? so take two bowls!)

O

* Onde hai fume houbo lume. (Where there is smoke, there is fire)

* Ovella que berra, bocado que perde (Sheep that bleats, mouthful that loses)

* O falar non ten cancelas. (Talking has no gates: saying has no brake)

* O verano pasou e mallou quen mallou. (Summer has passed and who harvested, harvested)

* O medo é livre: cada um compra o que quer. (Fear is free: each person can buy how much it wants of it).

P

* Pór o carro diante dos bois. (put the cart at the front of the oxen)

Q

* Quen non chora non mama. (He who doesn't cry won't suckle, meaning: if you never ask for help you will probably never get it.

* Quen nunca igrexa veu, á porta dun forno fai a reverencia (He who never saw a church, bows at the door of an oven)

* Quen nunca tivo un porco e agora tén un porquiño, anda sempre detrais del, chamandolle "quino, quino". (He who never had a pig, and now has a piglet (?), always walks behind it, calling to it "(pig)let,(pig)let")

* Quen ten cu, ten medo. (He who has a butt, may be scared)

S

* Sabe mais o demo por vello que por demo (The devil knows more because he is old, than because he is the devil)

* Sempre corre o ouro pro tesouro. (Translation: Always the gold runs to the treasure)

* Se non fose polo rabo, empreñaba a burra.

* Se unha muller che di que te tires pola ventá, o que tes que facer é percurar a que esteña mais baixa (if the wife tells you to jump out of a window, all you can do is to search for the lowest one)

U

* Unha sebe, 3 anos; un can, 3 sebes; un cabalo 3 cans, un home 3 cabalos (duration of things: a hedge 3 years, a dog 3 hedges, a horse 3 dogs, a man 3 horses)

V

* Visteme amodo que teño presa (dress me slowly because I'm in a hurry: too fast too bad)

X

* Xente nova e leña verde, todo é fume. (Young people and green firewood, all is smoke)