The coward shoots with shut eyes.
—American Indian Proverb
God gives us each a song.
—American Indian Proverb
Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Each person is his own judge.
—American Indian Proverb
With all things and in all things, we are relatives.
—American Indian Proverb
A danger foreseen is half-avoided.
—American Indian Proverb
I do not say a proverb is amiss when aptly and reasonably applied, but to be forever discharging them, right or wrong, hit or miss, renders conversation insipid and vulgar.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Old age is not as honorable as death, but most people want it.
—American Indian Proverb
We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.
—American Indian Proverb
The moon is not shamed by the barking of dogs.
—American Indian Proverb
Epigrams succeed where epics fail.
—Persian Proverb
Precepts and maxims are of great weight; and a few useful ones at hand, do more toward a wise and happy life, than whole volumes of cautions that we know not where to find.
—Charles Simmons (1924–2017) American Editor, Novelist
There is often more spiritual force in a proverb than in whole philosophical systems.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Most of us do not look as handsome to others as we do to ourselves.
—American Indian Proverb
Each bird loves to hear himself sing.
—American Indian Proverb
A starving man will eat with the wolf.
—American Indian Proverb
The proverb is something musty.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Don’t you go believing in sayings, Picotee: they are all made by men, for their own advantages. Women who use public proverbs as a guide through events are those who have not ingenuity enough to make private ones as each event occurs.
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) English Novelist, Poet
A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs.
—German Proverb
Truth does not happen, it just is.
—American Indian Proverb
Respect the gift and the giver.
—American Indian Proverb
Proverbs are short sentences drawn from long experience.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
The supreme law of the land is the Great Spirit’s law, not man’s law.
—American Indian Proverb
Roses grow on thorns and honey wears a sting.
—Isaac Watts (1674–1748) English Hymn writer
The aphorism in which I am the first master among Germans, are the forms of “eternity”; my ambition is to say in ten sentences what everyone else says in a book—what everyone else does not say in a book.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove.
—American Indian Proverb
White men have too many chiefs.
—American Indian Proverb
Man has responsibility, not power.
—American Indian Proverb
The genius, wit, and spirit of a nation are discovered in its proverbs.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
He would stab his best friend for the sake of writing an epigram on his tombstone.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright