Phrases
Esperanto proverbs and sayings with meanings
The classic Esperanto proverbs in their original wording, with literal translations and the English sayings they match.
The Proverbaro Esperanta is a collection of about 2,630 proverbs and sayings that L. L. Zamenhof arranged in Esperanto and published in 1910. He based it on a collection his father, Markus Zamenhof, had gathered in Russian, Polish, French and German. Below are 32 of its sayings, grouped by theme, each with a literal translation and, where one is well known, the matching English proverb.
Esperanto proverbs by theme
The wording and spelling follow the 1910 and 1925 editions; the apostrophe in Temp' replaces a dropped -o. English equivalents are close in meaning, not word for word; "–" means none is well known. For everyday expressions, see basic phrases.
Work and money
| Esperanto | Literal meaning | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Komenco bona — laboro duona. | A good beginning is half the work. | Well begun is half done. |
| Sen laboro ne venas oro. | Without work, gold does not come. | No pain, no gain. |
| Kiu amas la liton, ne akiros profiton. | Whoever loves the bed will gain no profit. | – |
| Ne prokrastu ĝis morgaŭ, kion vi povas fari hodiaŭ. | Do not postpone until tomorrow what you can do today. | Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. |
| Ŝparu groŝon — vi havos plenan poŝon. | Save a small coin and you will have a full pocket. | A penny saved is a penny earned. |
Words and silence
| Esperanto | Literal meaning | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Parolo estas arĝento, oron similas silento. | Speech is silver; silence resembles gold. | Speech is silver, silence is golden. |
| Granda parolisto estas duba faristo. | A great talker is a doubtful doer. | Great talkers are little doers. |
| Vundo pasas, vorto restas. | A wound passes, a word stays. | – |
| La muro havas orelojn. | The wall has ears. | Walls have ears. |
| Gardu vin du baroj: lipoj kaj dentaroj. | Let two barriers guard you: the lips and the teeth. | – |
Friends
| Esperanto | Literal meaning | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Amikon montras malfeliĉo. | Misfortune shows a friend. | A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| Kun kiu vi festas, tia vi estas. | With whom you feast, such you are. | You are known by the company you keep. |
Learning
| Esperanto | Literal meaning | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Per pacienco venas scienco. | Through patience comes knowledge. | – |
| Lernu juna — vi scios maljuna. | Learn when young, and you will know when old. | – |
| Homo lernas la tutan vivon. | A person learns throughout life. | Live and learn. |
Time and fortune
| Esperanto | Literal meaning | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Temp' estas mono. | Time is money. | Time is money. |
| Kiu vivos, tiu vidos. | Whoever lives will see. | Time will tell. |
| Ne en unu tago elkreskis Kartago. | Carthage did not grow up in a single day. | Rome wasn't built in a day. |
| Plej bone ridas, kiu laste ridas. | He laughs best who laughs last. | He who laughs last laughs best. |
| Pli bone malfrue, ol neniam. | Better late than never. | Better late than never. |
Cause and effect, appearances
| Esperanto | Literal meaning | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Kiu semas venton, rikoltos fulmotondron. | Whoever sows wind will reap a thunderstorm. | Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. |
| Kia ago, tia pago. | Such the deed, such the payment. | – |
| Ne ĉio brilanta estas diamanto. | Not everything shining is a diamond. | All that glitters is not gold. |
| Ne juĝu pri afero laŭ ĝia ekstero. | Do not judge a matter by its exterior. | Don't judge a book by its cover. |
| Unu ovo malbona tutan manĝon difektas. | One bad egg spoils the whole meal. | One bad apple spoils the bunch. |
Animals, home and abroad
| Esperanto | Literal meaning | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Kiu bojas, ne mordas. | Whoever barks does not bite. | Barking dogs seldom bite. |
| Kiam kato promenas, la musoj festenas. | When the cat goes for a walk, the mice feast. | When the cat's away, the mice will play. |
| Fiŝo pli granda malgrandan englutas. | A bigger fish swallows a smaller one. | Big fish eat little fish. |
| Pri la lupo rakonto, kaj la lupo renkonte. | Talk of the wolf, and the wolf is there. | Speak of the devil. |
| Monto gravediĝis, muso naskiĝis. | The mountain became pregnant, a mouse was born. | The mountain laboured and brought forth a mouse. |
| Ĉio transmara estas ĉarma kaj kara. | Everything from overseas is charming and dear. | – |
| Neniu estas profeto en sia urbeto. | Nobody is a prophet in his little town. | No man is a prophet in his own country. |
Where does the Proverbaro come from?
Markus Zamenhof began issuing a comparative Russian-Polish-French-German phraseology in 1905 and died before it was complete. At his wish for an Esperanto part, his son prepared one; it appeared in instalments, then as a book in 1910, with a second edition in Paris in 1925. The collection mixes true proverbs with idiomatic phrases such as Ĉerpi akvon per kribrilo – "to draw water with a sieve", a pointless task. See also Zamenhof and Esperanto literature.
The text has 1,232 numbered groups of related sayings, ordered by the Russian key words of the original, with an alphabetical topic index at the end.
How is it used today?
The dictionary ReVo lists the 1974 edition in its bibliography (abbreviation PrV) and quotes it in many entries. The linguist Sabine Fiedler (2015) reports that only about 7% of the 2,630 units are common knowledge among speakers, and calls the last two sayings in the tables very popular today. A fuller modern version, the eight-language Oklingva Proverbaro, appeared in 2020. More reading: sample texts.
Word building in the proverbs
| Word | Parts | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| proverbaro | proverb·ar·o | a collection of proverbs |
| dentaro | dent·ar·o | the teeth as a set |
| parolisto, faristo | parol·ist·o, far·ist·o | a talker, a doer (-ist-: someone who does something as a job or habit) |
| malfeliĉo | mal·feliĉ·o | misfortune |
| malfrue | mal·fru·e | late (frue is "early") |
| malŝpari | mal·ŝpar·i | to waste, the opposite of ŝpari "to save" |
The suffix -ar- means a whole made of many similar things, -ist- a person who often or professionally does something, and mal- the direct opposite. See word building, suffixes and prefixes.
Patterns that make them easy to remember
Many proverbs rhyme (ago – pago, bona – duona) or pair correlatives: Kiu vivos, tiu vidos, Kia ago, tia pago. Others use ju … des: Ju pli da bruo, des malpli da ĝuo. – "The more noise, the less pleasure." Fiedler notes that they often put the object before the verb, as the ending -n allows (Amikon montras malfeliĉo), or swap verbs for emphasis: Pri gustoj oni disputi ne devas (plain order: oni ne devas disputi).
Idioms from the dictionary
ReVo also records figurative expressions:
| Esperanto | ReVo's explanation | Entry |
|---|---|---|
| perdi la kapon | to lose one's good sense, to go mad | kapo |
| lia nomo estas sur ĉies lango | he is very famous | lango |
| bruligi siajn fingrojn | to compromise oneself, to have unpleasant experiences | fingro |
| foriri kun longa nazo | to leave disappointed, having achieved nothing | nazo |
Common questions
Who wrote the Esperanto proverbs?
L. L. Zamenhof arranged the collection, rendering into Esperanto the sayings in his father Markus Zamenhof's Russian-Polish-French-German collection. Many therefore resemble proverbs known across Europe.
How many proverbs are in the Proverbaro Esperanta?
About 2,630 distinct proverbs, according to Fiedler (2015), Vikipedio and the numbering of the 1974 edition. They are printed in 1,232 numbered groups, and some sayings recur in several groups.
Which Esperanto proverbs do speakers actually know?
Few: only about 7% of the units are common knowledge (Fiedler, 2015). She names Ĉio transmara estas ĉarma kaj kara and Neniu estas profeto en sia urbeto as very popular.
Where can I read the whole Proverbaro?
The 1925 edition is transcribed on Vikifontaro (Esperanto Wikisource); a digitised copy of the 1910 text is also online (see Sources).
Sources
- Vikifontaro: Proverbaro Esperanta (L. Zamenhof, 2a eld., 1925)
- Proverbaro Esperanta, 1910 text with both prefaces – digitised copy, used to check the proverbs above
- Vikipedio: Proverbaro Esperanta and Wikipedia: Proverbaro Esperanta
- Vikipedio: Oklingva Proverbaro
- Rob Keetlaer: Esperantaj proverboj – numbering of the 2,630 proverbs; wording cross-check
- Sabine Fiedler: Esperanto Phraseology (2015)
- ReVo: bibliography, proverbo, parolo, fari, dento, feliĉa, ŝpari
- PMEG: AR, IST, MAL, Apostrofo
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