A NICE TURN OF PHRASE A mixed bag of deft, colourful and evocative sayings on a variety of subjects. Never bolt your door with a boiled carrot. IRISH The quiet duck puts his foot on the unobservant worm. CHINESE Only a pumpkin is a head without cares. ITALIAN Better be the beak of a chicken than the rump of an ox. CHINESE Poets and pigs are only appreciated after their death. ITALIAN Worlds are mere bubbles of water, but deeds are drops of gold. TIBETAN It is better to suffer the satiated mosquito to stay than to admit the hungry one.
SERBIAN One sprinkles the most sugar where the tart is burnt. DUTCH You cannot prevent the birds of sadness from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from nesting in your hair. CHINESE He sits full still that has riven trousers. SCOTTISH Other people's goats always have the biggest udders. LATIN It's a hard job to make old monkeys pull new faces. FLEMISH Hope is the dream of waking. DANISH Do not stab yourself because you have a golden knife. MARATHI (INDIA) The man who spends the night in a marsh wakes a cousin to the frogs.
TUNISIAN To carry a light when the moon shines makes tigers laugh. MALAYAN After being struck on the head by an axe, it is a positive pleasure to be beaten about the body with a wooden club. CHINESE The shrimp that sleeps is carried away by the current. CHILEAN It is easy to cut whangs off other folks' leather. SCOTTISH Don't be after breaking your shin on a stool that isn't there. IRISH The beetle in its hole is a sultan. EGYPTIAN A centipede doesn't stop for a game leg. BURMESE Mistakes ain't haystacks or there'd be more fat ponies than there is.
NORTH AMERICAN With patience and saliva the ant swallows an elephant. COLOMBIAN It is nobler to be taken by a big crocodile than to be nibbled to pieces by little fishes. MALAYAN Fowl scratch up too much dirt, him run risk of finding him grandma's skeleton. JAMAICAN Many shrimps, many flavours; many men, many whims. MALAYAN Alms once given are as phlegm which has been expectorated not worth taking back. KUMAONI (INDIA) A spur in the head is worth two in the heel. SCOTTISH Nothing to bother you, eh? Then go and buy a goat. INDIAN Sycophants scratch pimples for a livelihood.
TELEGU (INDIA) A lame cat is better than a swift horse when rats infest the palace. CHINESE Dogs and rude people have no hands. ITALIAN A naked man can be seen from afar, a rude one, close at hand. LATVIAN He who does evil to a benefactor is like a dog which eats up the piece of leather on which he sleeps. INDIAN Farming, letter writing, worship and the tightening of your horse's girth; these things should be done by yourself, though you have a hundred thousand attendants. PUNJABI It is a sick duck that is worried by the weasel. CHINESE A man that pets a live catfish ain't crowded with brains. NORTH AMERICAN Death is a black camel that kneels at every man's gate.
TURKISH The tongue is soft and constantly remains in; the teeth are hard and fall out. CHINESE If you do what people tell you, you will be fishing hares in the sea and hunting fish in the woods. BULGARIAN The dragon in shallow water becomes the butt of shrimps. CHINESE Mind your pullets, my cocks are abroad! JERSEY Our Lady of Pity and Mister Saint Peter gave bad cows short horns. BRETON Although there exist many thousands of subjects for elegant conversation, there are persons who cannot meet a cripple without talking about feet. CHINESE He that denies the cat skimmed milk must give the mouse cream. RUSSIAN Who does not feed the dog, feeds the thief. ESTONIAN One should not peer into the mouth of a presentation cow and look at its teeth.
BURMESE Do not examine the reindeer given by the rich man lest you find it to be without horns. FINNISH Better a sausage in the hand, than a ham in the butchers. POLISH A slice of ham is better than a fat pig in a dream. GERMAN A bird in the soup is better than an eagle's nest in the desert. CHINESE PECULIAR PROVERBS. Copyright © 2007 by Stephen Arnott. All rights reserved. For information, address St.
Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.