Yiddish

Yiddish proverbs, at a glance

• From your mouth to God's ear.

  פֿון דײַן מויל אין גאָטס אויערן אַרײַן

  Fun dayn moyl in gots oyern arayn

  Literally: From your mouth into God's ears in

  Yiddish · Eastern European diaspora

  Set beside

  • Arabic — 'if God wills'; forward-looking and conditional where the Yiddish is retroactive and affirming
  • Irish — direct spoken blessing; the speaker addresses the hearer's future, not God's ear

• A half-truth is a whole lie.

  אַ האַלבער אמת איז אַ גאַנצער ליגן

  A halber emes iz a gantser lign

  Yiddish · Ashkenazi Eastern Europe

  Set beside

  • German — same syllogism in a Lutheran register
  • Spanish — ranks the half-truth as the worst of all lies
  • Russian — bureaucratic and weary, suspicion of partial disclosure

• We plan; the universe finds us amusing.

  מענטש טראַכט, גאָט לאַכט

  Mensch tracht, Gott lacht

  Literally: Man thinks, God laughs.

  Yiddish · Poland

  Set beside

  • Latin (Thomas à Kempis) — man proposes, God disposes; the same observation in monastic register
  • English (Burns) — the same disappointment, lodged in a Scots poem about a turned-up mouse
  • Arabic — man does the thinking, but the arranging is not his department