A theme across cultures
Humility is the theme of staying right-sized. The Korean wonsung-ido namu-eseo tteoreojinda — “even monkeys fall from trees” — is one of the most generous formulations: even the experts, even those who do this for a living, get it wrong sometimes. Don’t be hard on yourself, and don’t be hard on others. Horace conceded the same thing about the greatest poet he knew: quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus, sometimes even good Homer drowses. Different languages choose different exemplars, but each picks the one figure you would least expect to slip.
A second family of humility proverbs listens instead of looking. Korean says bin sure-ga yoranhada, the empty cart is noisy. Hindi says adhjal gagrī chhalkat jāy, the half-filled pot splashes as it goes, and English that empty vessels make the most noise. Mandarin’s bàn píng cù, half a bottle of vinegar, is the most exact of them: not the full bottle, which is silent, nor the empty one, which has nothing to slosh, but the one in between, aimed at people who have read a little. In each of them the noise is the confession.
A third family is about the size of the view. Zhuangzi’s frog at the bottom of the well mistakes his cracked well for the world. The Hawaiian ʻaʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi — not all knowledge is taught in one school — refuses to let any single house of learning own what is worth knowing. Japanese prices the remedy: kiku wa ittoki no haji, kikanu wa isshō no haji, to ask is a moment’s shame, not to ask is a lifetime’s. Akan says it without the arithmetic: the one who asks questions doesn’t lose his way.
The last family treats standing itself as a loan. The Punjabi borrowed drum does not beat for long. The medieval Latin wheel of Fortune carries four riders — one climbing, one crowned, one falling, one in the dirt — and the hand on the crank is not theirs. Khmer times the turn to the monsoon: when the water rises, the fish eat the ants; when it recedes, the ants eat the fish.
能ある鷹は爪を隠す
nō aru taka wa tsume o kakusu
What the Japanese proverb about the talented hawk hiding its claws really asks of the hawk — and how Mandarin, the Shiji and a Latin historian of Alexander place the hidden strength.
聞くは一時の恥、聞かぬは一生の恥
kiku wa ittoki no haji, kikanu wa isshō no haji
A Japanese proverb prices two shames against each other, asking against not asking — and an Akan road, a Confucian rebuke, and a Talmudic warning all take the same bargain from a different borrower.
Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs.
don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs.
Why English tells the advice-giver to stop, not the grandmother — and how a Chinese carpenter's gate, a Latin pig, and a Swahili elder make the same argument in three different registers.
半瓶醋
bàn píng cù
A full bottle is silent and an empty one has nothing to slosh. The Chinese insult picks the third case — half full — and aims it specifically at people who have read a little.
Fortune rota volvitur: descendo minoratus; alter in altum tollitur
fortunae rota volvitur: descendo minoratus; alter in altum tollitur
Four men ride a wheel: one climbing, one crowned, one falling, one in the dirt. The medieval Latin proverb about Fortune is the only version of this idea with somebody's hand on the crank.
天下本无事，庸人自扰之
tiānxià běn wúshì, yōngrén zì rǎo zhī
A Tang official refused to have a clerk beaten, and remarked that the world makes no trouble on its own. Twelve hundred years later the sentence counsels private calm — after one character slipped in and moved the trouble from the office into the head.
Один в поле не воин
odin v pole ne voin
The Russian proverb says one man in a field is not a warrior. But the field was farmland before it was a battlefield, and the lone figure standing in it was a ploughman.
این نیز بگذرد
īn nīz bogzarad
A Persian ring inscription that comforts the grieving and unsettles the joyful — and how Mandarin, Hausa, and Latin cousins each pick sides.
ਮੰਗੇ ਦਾ ਢੋਲ ਬਹੁਤੀ ਦੇਰ ਨਹੀਂ ਵੱਜਦਾ
mangey da dhol bahutī der nahīṉ vajjdā
A Punjabi proverb about the borrowed drum that eventually falls silent — and how French, Arabic, and Japanese traditions say the same thing about borrowed standing.
Жаба тражила да је поткују
žaba tražila da je potkuju
A Serbian frog lifts its foot at the blacksmith's — and across three continents, the same truth about imitation lands differently in Latin, Chinese, and Hindi.
A fo ben, bid bont
a fo ben, bid bont
Why the Welsh say that whoever would lead must become a bridge — and how Hawaiian, Māori, and Tswana proverbs locate the weight of leadership in very different places.
Ɔberebere ɔbɛhunu
ɔberebere ɔbɛhunu
An Akan proverb from Ghana says the one who asks questions will never lose the road — and what it means to build an entire worldview around the dignity of not-knowing.
Nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy
nye mooy tsirk, nye mo-yeh maw-pih
“Not my circus, not my monkeys” is a Polish saying, nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy, meaning “not my problem.” Its meaning, origin and use, plus its cousins.
الكلاب تنبح والقافلة تسير
al-kilāb tanbah wa-l-qāfila tasīr
An Arabic proverb about ignoring detractors found its twin in Turkish — and both teach the same lesson about purpose and noise that Latin and Russian learned independently.
அகழ்வாரைத் தாங்கும் நிலம்போலத் தம்மை இகழ்வார்ப் பொறுத்தல் தலை.
akazhvāraith thāngum nilampōlath thammai igazhvārp poṟuttal talai
A Tamil couplet asks you to endure insult the way the earth endures the spade. Italian, Chinese, and Arabic cousins all make restraint a strength — but only the Tamil makes it the dignity of the thing being wounded.
عطر گل پنهان نمیشود
atr-e gol penhān nemishavad
A Persian proverb says the fragrance of a rose cannot be hidden. Quality reveals itself despite walls and distance — and Chinese wine, a Russian awl, and English cream all prove the same thing through three very different mechanisms.
Адгийн ноён албатдаа баатар.
adgiin noyon albatdaa baatar
A Mongolian proverb says the worst lord is a hero to his own subjects. In a world of vast distances, rank was always relative to what you could compare. Latin, Arabic, and Spanish reach the same conclusion — but always through blindness, never through a lord.
He aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka
he aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka
Why Hawaiians call the land a chief and the human its servant — and how Māori, West African, and Hebrew sayings invert the ownership of the ground from three other directions.
Obi nkyerɛ akwadaa Nyame
obi nkyerɛ akwadaa nyame
An Akan proverb says no one teaches a child that God exists — and Arabic, Buddhist, and Greek traditions each make the same wager, that some knowledge is born in us rather than poured in.
Onye ọbịa ahụ ihe ụmụ ụlọ adịghị ahụ.
onye ọbịa ahụ ihe ụmụ ụlọ adịghị ahụ
An Igbo proverb says the visitor sees what the household cannot. Latin, Mandarin, and Confucius circle the same blind spot from three directions — and all of them end in the same unsettling question about what it is we stop seeing the moment we call a place home.
Omne ignotum pro magnifico est
omne ignotum pro magnifico est
Tacitus put the line in the mouth of a British chieftain rallying against Rome: everything unknown is taken for magnificent. It is a warning about how reputation, and dread, are built out of distance.
빈 수레가 요란하다
bin sure-ga yoranhada
Korean says the empty cart is the loud one. A loaded cart rolls quietly; the one carrying nothing clatters over every rut. The noise itself is the confession.
老馬識途
lǎo mǎ shí tú
Why Mandarin says the old horse knows the road — a proverb from Han Feizi where a returning army follows its horses out of the mountains — and how Mongolian, Spanish, and Japanese say the same thing through three other figures of seasoned wisdom.
Ганц мод гал болохгүй, ганц хүн айл болохгүй.
gants mod gal bolokhgüi, gants khün ail bolokhgüi
A Mongolian proverb says one log makes no fire and one person makes no household — binding the hearth to the family in a single breath. Chinese, Russian, and Zulu circle the solitary's incompleteness from three sides.
Ахмадын сургаал алт.
akhmadyn surgaal alt
A Mongolian proverb weighs an elder's counsel as gold — in a culture where the old were the library. Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese agree that age is the deep source of knowing, each with its own face.
Ăn quả nhớ kẻ trồng cây.
an kwah nyuh keh chong kay
A Vietnamese proverb won't let you eat fruit without remembering who planted the tree. Chinese, Latin, and English also reckon with the debt of the given — through gratitude, foresight, and warning.
ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi.
ah-oh-heh pau ka ee-keh ee ka hah-lau ho-oh-ka-hee
A Hawaiian proverb refuses to let any one school own all knowledge. Confucius, an Akan baobab, and a Japanese saying about the shame of asking agree — but each finds a different reason to look elsewhere.
ទឹកឡើងត្រីស៊ីស្រមោច ទឹកស្រកស្រមោចស៊ីត្រី។
tɨk laəng trəy sii srɑmaoch, tɨk srɑk srɑmaoch sii trəy
A Khmer proverb watches the flood reverse the food chain — fish over ants, then ants over fish. Chinese, Latin, and English also know that power is borrowed, but only Cambodia times it to the monsoon.
الجبل لا يلتقي بالجبل، ولكن الإنسان يلتقي بالإنسان
al-jabal lā yaltaqī bi-l-jabal, wa-lākin al-insān yaltaqī bi-l-insān
Why Arabic speakers say mountains don't meet but humans do — and how the same six-word observation, shared with Greek and Russian, carries the religious obligation of kinship rather than the consolation of return.
亀の甲より年の功
kame no kō yori toshi no kō
Why Japanese says years' merit beats turtle's shell — and how the same age-as-wisdom claim, carried by a homophone pun on kō (shell) and kō (merit), differs from the Mongolian horse, the Spanish devil, and the Mandarin ginger.
Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo
más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo
Why Spanish says the devil knows more from being old than from being the devil — and how the same claim about age-as-wisdom carries a theological joke that Mongolian, Japanese, Mandarin and German all decline to make.
What goes around comes around
what goes around comes around
Why Americans say what goes around comes around — and how the AAVE-rooted karma-cycle figure carries the same inevitability claim as the Russian geography, the Pauline harvest, and the Mandarin moral arithmetic, but routes the claim through a wheel instead of a road.
案ずるより産むが易し
anzuru yori umu ga yasushi
Why Japanese mothers and managers say that giving birth is easier than worrying about it — and how Russian, Mandarin and Latin reach the same observation about the gap between fear and the act.
Гора с горой не сходится, а человек с человеком сойдётся
gora s goroy ne skhoditsya, a chelovek s chelovekom soydyotsya
Why Russians say mountains don't meet but people do — and how the same proverb in Greek, Arabic, Spanish and English carries entirely different freight inside one shared observation.
Хөгшин морь зам мэднэ
khögshin mor' zam medne
Why Mongolian and Han Chinese both kept the same proverb about old horses — and how Spanish and Japanese reach the same conclusion without any horse at all.
Βουνό με βουνό δε σμίγει, μα άνθρωπος μ' άνθρωπο σμίγει
vounó me vounó de smígei, ma ánthropos m' ánthropo smígei
Why Greeks say mountains never meet but people do — and how Russian, Arabic, Mandarin, and Spanish circle the same observation about the inevitability of encounter from four very different cosmologies.
Не так страшен чёрт, как его малюют
ne tak strashen chyort, kak yego malyuyut
A Russian proverb that pushes back against icon-painters: the devil, looked at directly, is smaller than the picture. And how Latin, Mandarin, and Japanese each name the same distortion in entirely different rooms.
Mzee wa kazi haitwi mtoto.
mzee wa kazi haitwi mtoto
Why the Swahili coast says an elder of work is not called a child — and how Yoruba clean hands, a Chinese old horse, and an English grandmother circle the same earned authority.
良薬は口に苦し
ryōyaku wa kuchi ni nigashi
Japanese inherited a Chinese proverb about bitter medicine and the criticism that tastes like it. Mandarin, Russian, and English know the same fact: what helps does not feel good in the mouth.
백지장도 맞들면 낫다
baekjijang-do matdeulmyeon natda
Why Koreans say even a sheet of paper is lighter when lifted together — and how English, Swahili, Mandarin, and Russian carry the same claim in very different bodies.
Cây ngay không sợ chết đứng
cây ngay không sợ chết đứng
Why a Vietnamese proverb makes a straight tree fearless of dying upright — and how Mandarin tests integrity with a shadow, Spanish with a night's sleep, and Quintilian's Latin with the courtroom of the conscience.
A caballo regalado no le mires el diente.
a caballo regalado no le mires el diente
Why one of Europe's most-traveled proverbs is about a horse's teeth — and what each language's small, telling preference reveals about how it wants gifts to be received.
Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus.
quandoque bonus dormitat homerus
Why Horace conceded that even Homer drowsed at his work — and how Japanese, Mandarin, and English keep arriving at the same observation by naming different masters.
מענטש טראַכט, גאָט לאַכט
mensch tracht, gott lacht
Why Yiddish wisdom says God laughs at human planning — and how Latin, English, and Arabic each find a different tone for the same admission of limit.
Empty vessels make the most noise.
empty vessels make the most noise
Why English wisdom warns that empty vessels make the most noise — and how Mandarin, Korean, and Russian arrange the same observation around very different objects.
La calma è la virtù dei forti
la calma è la virtù dei forti
Why an Italian aphorism of contested attribution made calm the marker of true strength — and how Stoic Rome, Daoist China, and Islamic ethics arrived at the same observation through citadels, ponds, and restraint.
원숭이도 나무에서 떨어진다
wonsung-ido namu-eseo tteoreojinda
Why Korean's proverb on expert failure picks the natural climber as its subject — and how the same observation travels to a Japanese twin, to Horace's Homer, and to a Russian grandmother caught in a snowdrift.
Сайн морь нэг ташуурын зайтай, сайн хүн нэг үгийн зайтай
sain' mori neg tashuuryn zaitai, sain' khün neg ügiin zaitai
Why a Mongolian proverb measures worth by the smallness of the cue required — and how Latin, Italian, and Japanese reach the same observation through wisdom, courtesy, and perception.
He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata
he aha te mea nui o te ao? he tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata
Why a Māori whakataukī answers the question 'what matters most?' three times in succession with the same word — and how Zulu, Confucian, and Talmudic traditions reach for predication, fraternity, and a single saved soul to make the same case.
Reden ist Silber, Schweigen ist Gold
reden ist silber, schweigen ist gold
Why a proverb that travelled from Arabic into German into Russian became known across Europe as German — and how a Mandarin slogan kept only its second half.
Ọmọ tó mọ ọwọ́ rẹ̀ wẹ̀ á bá àgbà jẹun
ọmọ tó mọ ọwọ́ rẹ̀ wẹ̀ á bá àgbà jẹun
Why Yoruba families say a child who learns to wash his hands earns a seat at the elders' meal — and how Igbo, English, and Confucian traditions imagine the same small discipline opening four very different doors.
井底之蛙
jǐng dǐ zhī wā
Why Zhuangzi's frog mistakes his cracked well for the world — and how Sanskrit, Greek, and Russian build their own walls around the same observation.
अधजल गगरी छलकत जाय
adhjal gagrī chhalkat jāy
Why Hindi names the noisy boaster as a half-filled water-pot splashing along the village path — and how English, Mandarin, and Korean reach for empty vessels, sour vinegar, and rattling carts to argue the same case.
Alone, you cannot make the whole — neither a fire nor a family.
Ганц мод гал болохгүй, ганц хүн айл болохгүй.
Gants mod gal bolokhgüi, gants khün ail bolokhgüi
Literally: A single tree does not become fire; a single person does not become a household.
Mongolian · Mongolia
The borrowed drum doesn't beat for long
ਮੰਗੇ ਦਾ ਢੋਲ ਬਹੁਤੀ ਦੇਰ ਨਹੀਂ ਵੱਜਦਾ
Mangey da dhol bahutī der nahīṉ vajjdā
Literally: A borrowed drum does not play for long
Punjabi · India
Calm is the virtue of the strong
La calma è la virtù dei forti
Literally: The calm is the virtue of the strong
Italian · Italy
A child who knows how to wash his hands will dine with the elders
Ọmọ tó mọ ọwọ́ rẹ̀ wẹ̀ á bá àgbà jẹun
Literally: A child who knows his hands [to] wash, will-with elders eat
Yoruba · Nigeria
The counsel of the old is precious — weigh it like gold.
Ахмадын сургаал алт.
Akhmadyn surgaal alt
Literally: The elder's teaching is gold.
Mongolian · Mongolia
The devil isn't as scary as he's painted
Не так страшен чёрт, как его малюют
Ne tak strashen chyort, kak yego malyuyut
Literally: Not so terrible (is) the devil as they paint him
Russian · Russia
The devil knows more from age than from being the devil.
Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo
Literally: The devil knows more for being old than for being a devil
Spanish · Spain (pan-Hispanic usage)
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
الكلاب تنبح والقافلة تسير
Al-kilāb tanbah wa-l-qāfila tasīr
Literally: The dogs bark and the caravan travels
Arabic · Arabia / Turkey
Don't appraise the value of what you've been given.
A caballo regalado no le mires el diente.
Literally: Don't look at the tooth of a gifted horse.
Spanish · Spain
Don't presume to instruct someone who already knows the task better than you do.
Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs.
Literally: Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs.
English · England
An elder of work is not called a child.
Mzee wa kazi haitwi mtoto.
Literally: Elder of work is-not-called child.
Swahili · Tanzania / Kenya
The empty cart rattles loudest.
빈 수레가 요란하다
bin sure-ga yoranhada
Literally: An empty cart is noisy
Korean · South Korea
Enjoy what you are given, and never forget whose labor gave it.
Ăn quả nhớ kẻ trồng cây.
an kwah nyuh keh chong kay
Literally: Eating the fruit, remember the one who planted the tree.
Vietnamese · Vietnam
원숭이도 나무에서 떨어진다
Wonsung-ido namu-eseo tteoreojinda
Literally: Monkey-even tree-from falls
Korean · South Korea
Even the master, sometimes, falls asleep at his work.
Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus.
Literally: Sometimes even good Homer drowses.
Latin · Italy
Even the slightest task is lighter when two carry it.
백지장도 맞들면 낫다
Baekjijang-do matdeulmyeon natda
Literally: Even a sheet of white paper, if lifted together, is better.
Korean · Korea
The frog at the bottom of the well
井底之蛙
Jǐng dǐ zhī wā
Literally: Well-bottom 's frog
Mandarin Chinese · China
The frog that wanted to be shod like a horse
Жаба тражила да је поткују
Žaba tražila da je potkuju
Literally: The frog asked to be shod
Serbian · Serbia
A good horse responds to one whip; a good person responds to one word
Сайн морь нэг ташуурын зайтай, сайн хүн нэг үгийн зайтай
Sain' mori neg tashuuryn zaitai, sain' khün neg ügiin zaitai
Literally: Good horse — one whip's distance; good person — one word's distance
Mongolian · Mongolia
Good medicine is bitter to the mouth.
良薬は口に苦し
Ryōyaku wa kuchi ni nigashi
Literally: Good medicine, to the mouth, [is] bitter
Japanese · Japan
A half-filled pot splashes as it goes
अधजल गगरी छलकत जाय
Adhjal gagrī chhalkat jāy
Literally: Half-water pot splashes goes
Hindi · India
It's easier to give birth than to worry about it.
案ずるより産むが易し
Anzuru yori umu ga yasushi
Literally: Than worrying, giving birth is easy
Japanese · Japan
The land outranks the people who live on it; they serve it, not the other way around.
He aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka
Literally: The land is a chief, the human is a servant.
Hawaiian · Hawaiʻi
A man who has read just enough to show off
半瓶醋
bàn píng cù
Literally: Half a bottle of vinegar
Mandarin Chinese · China
A moment's embarrassment beats a lifetime of not knowing
聞くは一時の恥、聞かぬは一生の恥
Kiku wa ittoki no haji, kikanu wa isshō no haji
Literally: To ask is a moment's shame; to not ask is a lifetime's shame
Japanese · Japan
Mountains don't meet — but people do.
الجبل لا يلتقي بالجبل، ولكن الإنسان يلتقي بالإنسان
Al-jabal lā yaltaqī bi-l-jabal, wa-lākin al-insān yaltaqī bi-l-insān
Literally: The mountain does not meet the mountain, but the human meets the human
Arabic · Levant / Maghreb (pan-Arab usage)
Mountains don't meet — but people do.
Гора с горой не сходится, а человек с человеком сойдётся
Gora s goroy ne skhoditsya, a chelovek s chelovekom soydyotsya
Literally: Mountain with mountain does not converge, but person with person will converge
Russian · Russia
Mountains don't meet — but people do.
Βουνό με βουνό δε σμίγει, μα άνθρωπος μ' άνθρωπο σμίγει
Vounó me vounó de smígei, ma ánthropos m' ánthropo smígei
Literally: Mountain with mountain doesn't meet, but person with person meets
Greek · Greece
The newcomer's eyes catch what familiarity has made invisible.
Onye ọbịa ahụ ihe ụmụ ụlọ adịghị ahụ.
Literally: The visitor sees things the household does not see.
Igbo · Nigeria
No one needs to teach a child that God exists.
Obi nkyerɛ akwadaa Nyame
Literally: Someone does-not-teach child God
Akan (Twi) · Ghana
No single source holds all wisdom — learn from many.
ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi.
ah-OH-heh pau ka EE-keh ee ka HAH-lau ho-oh-KA-hee
Literally: Not all knowledge is taught in one school.
Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) · United States (Hawaiʻi)
Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy
Nye mooy tsirk, nye mo-yeh maw-pih
Polish · Poland
Nothing — neither joy nor suffering — lasts.
این نیز بگذرد
Īn nīz bogzarad
Literally: This also shall pass
Persian · Iran
Хөгшин морь зам мэднэ
Khögshin mor' zam medne
Literally: Old horse road knows
Mongolian · Mongolia
One man alone is not a warrior.
Один в поле не воин
Odin v pole ne voin
Literally: One in field not warrior
Russian · Russia
The one who asks questions doesn't lose his way.
Ɔberebere ɔbɛhunu
Literally: The one who asks around will find it
Akan (Twi) · Ghana
Power is on loan from circumstance — when the tide turns, the eaten become the eaters.
ទឹកឡើងត្រីស៊ីស្រមោច ទឹកស្រកស្រមោចស៊ីត្រី។
Tɨk laəng trəy sii srɑmaoch, tɨk srɑk srɑmaoch sii trəy
Literally: Water rises, fish eat ants; water recedes, ants eat fish.
Khmer · Cambodia
The seasoned one finds the way back when the young have lost it.
老馬識途
Lǎo mǎ shí tú
Literally: Old horse knows the road.
Mandarin Chinese · China
Speech is silver, silence is gold
Reden ist Silber, Schweigen ist Gold
Literally: Speaking is silver, keeping-silent is gold
German · Germany
A straight tree does not fear dying upright
Cây ngay không sợ chết đứng
Literally: Tree straight not fear die standing
Vietnamese · Vietnam
Those who really can do it are the last to show it.
能ある鷹は爪を隠す
Nō aru taka wa tsume o kakusu
Literally: The hawk that has ability hides its talons.
Japanese · Japan
Those with the least inside speak the loudest.
Empty vessels make the most noise.
Literally: Empty vessels make the most noise.
English · England
To bear with those who insult you — as the earth bears those who dig it — is the highest of virtues.
அகழ்வாரைத் தாங்கும் நிலம்போலத் தம்மை இகழ்வார்ப் பொறுத்தல் தலை.
Akazhvāraith thāngum nilampōlath thammai igazhvārp poṟuttal talai
Literally: Like the ground that bears up those who dig into it, to endure those who scorn you is supreme.
Tamil · India
We plan; the universe finds us amusing.
מענטש טראַכט, גאָט לאַכט
Mensch tracht, Gott lacht
Literally: Man thinks, God laughs.
Yiddish · Poland
What goes around comes around.
What goes around comes around
Literally: Whatever circulates outward eventually returns
English · United States (African American Vernacular English origin)
What is genuinely good reveals itself despite any barrier placed before it.
عطر گل پنهان نمیشود
Atr-e gol penhān nemishavad
Literally: The fragrance of a rose cannot be hidden
Persian · Iran
What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people
He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata
Literally: What the thing great of the world? It-is people, it-is people, it-is people
Māori · New Zealand
What we don't know, we magnify.
Omne ignotum pro magnifico est
Literally: Everything unknown [is taken] for magnificent
Latin · Ancient Rome
The wheel of Fortune turns — I go down as another goes up
Fortune rota volvitur: descendo minoratus; alter in altum tollitur
Fortunae rota volvitur: descendo minoratus; alter in altum tollitur
Literally: Fortune's wheel is turned: I descend, diminished; another is lifted on high
Latin · Medieval Europe
Where there is no comparison, even the least becomes the greatest.
Адгийн ноён албатдаа баатар.
Adgiin noyon albatdaa baatar
Literally: The worst lord is a hero to his own subjects.
Mongolian · Mongolia
Whoever would lead must make himself the crossing
A fo ben, bid bont
Literally: He who would be head, let him be bridge
Welsh · Wales
The world makes no trouble. Small men manufacture their own.
天下本无事，庸人自扰之
Tiānxià běn wúshì, yōngrén zì rǎo zhī
Literally: Under heaven there is fundamentally no matter; the mediocre man disturbs himself over it
Mandarin Chinese · China
The years' merit beats the turtle's shell.
亀の甲より年の功
Kame no kō yori toshi no kō
Literally: Than turtle's shell, years' merit
Japanese · Japan
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