Proverbs
म्हणी
- A baby squirrel doesn’t require lessons to climb a tree
- A bridge means it can be used to cross from both sides
- A brim-full pot never agitates
- A broken stick can be tied with a string but how can one tie a broken mind
- A cat scalded with hot milk fears even cold milk
- A child without a mother is a glutton
- A day for mother in-law and a day for daughter in-law
- A dog's trail will be curved even if it is put in a pipe
- A drowning person pulls down others
- A fight between two dogs results in sand showered on the rice
- A friend in need is a friend indeed
- A frog in the well feels the well itself is the whole universe
- A full coconut for the dog what use would be an unhusked coconut be to a dog?
- A guest of two houses doesn’t get food from both
- A half-filled vessel always sloshes around
- A little knowledge is dangerous
- A man drowning in the pond tries to even hold on to moss
- A man eating food of twelve measures gets a thirteen measure eating wife
- A mango seed planted will not produce tamarind
- A mother of ten children has to spend outdoors stranded
- A mouthful of hot water (cannot swallow because of heat, cant spit as it will burn the lips)
- A near enemy may be of help than a distant friend
- A pearl bigger than a nose
- A person of short longevity has more intelligence - or vice versa
- A roof of cloth for a house of sticks
- A rotten finger has to be cut off
- A serpent jumps and so the earthworm too tries to jump
- A small problem causes the canoe to sink and a spark burns a house
- A third person benefits from two's quarrel
- A tiger at home but a fox outside
- A white bitter gourd with bitterness inside
- Adding a drop of oil to a burning ember
- After marriage the man is in chains, after the birth of a child he has to eat mud
- All fingers are not alike
- All that glitters is not gold
- All that is white is not milk
- Among the blind the squint eyed one becomes the king
- An arecanut can be kept in the lap but can an arecanut tree be kept there?
- Appetite/desire grows by what it feeds on
- As the king, so are the subjects
- As the seed so the plant, as the plant so the fruit
- As your deeds so the effect
- Ask the person eating for a bite
- At home it is alms but outside ghee for one's whiskers
- At the time of eating sweets remember the time when one had to eat the bran
- Bad judgement cannot be pulled back even by an elephant
- Bashfulness stands in the way of earning rice gruel
- Beads of one string
- Because it is black does not mean it is charcoal and white doesn’t mean it is white batter
- Because of the luck of the cat the rope holding the hung pot breaks
- Because the crow flies the feather too tries to fly
- Before stretching one's legs check the size of the mattress
- Big basket complaining to the small basket
- Blind man prays for one eye and god gives two
- Blood is thicker than water
- Brass lock for a screen door
- Broken pot can never be mended
- Burning by self the lamp gives light to others
- Burning the old saree in the hearth before new one is bought
- Call me for food but for work call you
- Can the scent of musk be hidden by covering it?
- Cannot be done by striking a wand
- Can’t change fate by rubbing away the fate line
- Chanting god's names and cuts throat using a hair strand
- Cheap food results in diarrhoea
- Cow in appearance but tiger inside
- Dare not swallow dare not spit
- Deeds follow
- Desire doesn’t grow old
- Do not have debts even if you have no wealth
- Do not hurt a kite or a snake and turn your back
- Do not throw stones in loose excrement
- Do the work by self if you want it well done
- Do you look out for a privy only after getting urgent nature calls
- Do you want to eat appams or count the moulds used for cooking them?
- Does not god create food for those whom he created?
- Does the black gram when soaked become a drum?
- Dog always loves ash heap
- Dogs like the taste of leather and a horse like the taste of the iron(bit) and an elephant likes the taste of the tethering chain
- Dogs quarrel for the thrown out leaves used to dine on
- Doing business allowing borrowal causes heat
- Don't cry over destiny without working
- Donating by one arm should not be known by the other
- Don’t apply oil while forgetting your head
- Dug a pit for others but slipped and fell down in it
- Eat what is prepared, suffer what comes
- Either the server has to be careful or the eating person has to be careful
- Empty pot makes the greatest sound
- Even a coconut shell full of water is like a sea for a tiny ant
- Even if a golden needle is available there is the need for an iron needle
- Even if milk is fed to a serpent it will spit venom
- Even if one goes on a pilgrimage to Rameshwaram the effects of Saturn does not leave
- Even if the cot is small it will have four legs
- Even if the crow sits on the temple tower it will not become the sacred kite
- Even if the house is small mind should be great
- Even if the idol is small the fame is great
- Even if the seed of poison nut tree is roasted in milk, the bitterness will prevail
- Even if you give a good mattress the dog will sleep on the warm ash
- Even if you keep the money tied it will escape
- Even if you take a dog to the throne, it will still go to the ash heap to lie down
- Even nectar in excess is poison
- Even sand thrown will not reach the ground
- Even the bolts on the doors/walls have ears
- Even the coal of coconut shell is not good enough for measuring the characteristics
- Even though family and clan are of no greatness, there is no shortage of excreta and urine
- First the worship of stomach and only then the worship of god
- For a crow, its chicks are beautiful
- For a lazy man the day is endless and for a hardworking man even the night is not enough
- For removing the rice pancakes from the griddle a flat ladle is a must
- For the daughter in law for this Diwali and that Diwali (once in a while),and for the daughter this Friday and that Friday(often)
- For the householder who urinates by standing, there will be a a priest who urinates while running
- For the ignorant it is ghost, for the intelligent it is thread
- For the putrid rice burnt fried victual
- For the rotten fish rotten tamarind is used
- Getting one thing today is better than getting two tomorrow
- God does not give horns to the horse
- God gave the benefits and they were taken away by actions
- Great braggarts are little doers
- Having blanket and one feels cold but with no blanket cold gets frightened away
- Having overeaten due to desire it is now choking in throat
- Having swum across the ocean, he got drowned in the water that was ankle deep
- He brags but eats cow dung
- He who ate the chicken has a feather on his head
- He who blows into the ash gets it in the eyes
- He who lacks foresight lags behind others
- High tides have their low tides, and each new moon has a full moon
- Horse gram does not cook by a single boiling
- Hot over hot and work finishes fast
- How to hide your pregnancy from the midwife?
- Hugging a thorny tree and getting the thorns on body
- Hurt caused by words is remembered and hurt caused by beating forgotten
- Idle carpenter sawing off the thigh/testis/buttocks
- If an empty coconut shell is scraped kernel scrapings could not be obtained
- If death occurs today tomorrow is the second day
- If husband and wife have unity, the two can lay on a pestle/tamarind leaf
- If one bites one's tongue using one's own teeth who is to be blamed?
- If one does action which should not to be done, that which shouldn’t happen will happen
- If one does not know cooking blame the firewood for being wet
- If one does not know to dance, then blame the floor by calling it uneven
- If one drinks milk under a coconut tree, it will be mistaken for toddy
- If one falls in the mortar one has to suffer the pounding from the pestle
- If one has intelligence why does he need a treasure?
- If one has longevity even if a slab of stone is dropped on the nose one won’t die
- If one has money/food then it is Ashtami and if not then is Ekadashi
- If one is an ass why should he scold others if they sit on his back?
- If one practices one can eventually lift an elephant
- If one practices stealing one must also learn to conceal
- If one tends to lie the only gain will be a coconut shell as a begging bowl
- If one utters the word money even the corpse gapes
- If one weaves a cord on his own thigh he will know the pain
- If something fall down from one's hand it is possible to pick it up, but the words one utters are not possible to be withdrawn
- If the child defecates on one's thigh do one cut of the thigh itself?
- If the dhoti is long will the gotra become great
- If the earthworm crawl into sunshine because the snake is going out then it will be scorched
- If the elephant has got thin can it be tied in the cowshed?
- If the feather tries to fly upon seeing the winged seeds flying, it will surely fall into the trench or the ash heap
- If the little finger gets inflamed how much will it swell
- If the needle is made of gold do one thrust it into the stomach
- If there is no food to fill the stomach one does not eat roasted shrimps
- If there is space in mind there is space in the canoe
- If you give space to allow a needle in then a crowbar will be pushed in
- If you have forged coin why should you scold the shop keeper?
- If you have good virtues everything in hand becomes gold
- If you have wealth you have many visitors
- If you jump into the well due to one anger, you cannot come out of it even if you get hundred angers meaning by getting more angry
- If you sow thorns do not expect to walk barefooted
- If you wash the donkey will it become a horse?
- In the forest he is afraid of the tiger, in the house of the wife
- In the mango season even the thud of a stone falling will be construed as a mango
- Incurring debts is like putting the hand in an oil mill
- Injustice comes with excuses
- Investigating about the cat's sixth day ceremony to the dog's sixth month ceremony
- Is a mirror necessary to view the boil on the palm?
- It does not feel cold once you are fully immersed
- It is always dark at the bottom of the lamp
- It is better to utter a few good words than to utter hard words
- It is cheap to give but difficult to accept
- It is difficult to find intelligent people, but it is easy to get foolish ones everywhere
- It is enough to allow the cockroach to put its feelers in (and he will enter in whole)
- It is hell wherever the sinner goes
- It is like serving buttermilk rice in a tarnished plate
- It is not possible to clap using one hand
- It is pointless to read scriptures to a donkey
- Jaggery ball doesn't have two sides
- Just because you are upon a horse do not break the staff
- Just because you die tomorrow should you go and fall into the grave today?
- Keep not till tomorrow what is to be done today
- Let the priest know the mantras, I know how to eat and drink
- Lid suitable for the pot
- Like killing the cow and offering leather sandals as atonement
- Look at the mother before marrying the daughter similarly test the quality and quantity of milk before buying a buffalo
- Lost respect and dead person will never return
- Lost self-respect cannot be restored, broken ruby cannot be repaired
- Lying face up and spitting will cause it to fall on your chest
- Man’s life is like the bubbles on the water surface
- Mhalpai suffers from indigestion, the villagers get to eat rice gruel
- Money flows towards money
- Money obtained by selling gooseberries do not sting
- Moonlight worries a thief
- Mother does not feed and father does not allow to beg
- Mouth that has eaten bran can eat sweet Mando but that which has tasted Mando should not eat bran
- Nagar Panchami (festival of the Naga’s/snakes) celebrated in Garuda's land (sworn enemy of the Naga’s)
- Naggu to pound the paddy and Jaggu to eat the food
- No food for the existing child but offerings for the one yet to be born
- No medicine without dry ginger
- No money in hand, for him which Kailas
- No one checks the horoscope of the dead
- No one counts the teeth in the gifted cow's mouth
- No one looks at the teeth of a gift cow
- No one throws banana leaf used to dine on in places other than the dump
- No quarrel without two
- No value for something available at home but feels to be valuable if it is from outside
- No way to live but uses ghee on whiskers
- No worship for the god at home but offerings for other gods
- One can advise an ignorant person but what to do with an imprudent person
- One can displace the hill if you have money
- One can participate in grandmother's thirteenth death day and also get a chance to eat the black gram snack Ghari
- One can see the reflection of roof in one's gruel but still there is no decrease in vanity
- One can tie up the mouth of a well but not of a river
- One cannot catch fish without wetting the body/limbs
- One cannot help licking ones fingers that has been put into the jaggery container
- One eats dung and wipes the hand on another's face
- One forgets about his own but talks about other’s
- One forgets the ash gourd underneath his own feet and goes to check the mustard under other's feet
- One has to die to get salvation
- One has to look behind too while going forward
- One is lying face down yet will argue that the nose is up
- One night cannot bring the dawn
- One pats his own back
- One should not let go after climbing halfway up a coconut palm
- One who closely follows the customs will suffer less
- One who guards the pond does not die for water
- One who hadn’t seen rice starch got to see cooked rice
- One who has been forsaken by god cannot be reformed by man
- One who has eaten salt will drink water actions give the reaction
- One who is alive today may not be so tomorrow
- One who is innocent need not fear
- One who lives in the company of a calf eats grass, one who lives with a puppy practices to eat faeces
- One whose tongue has been scalded by hot milk drinks even buttermilk after blowing on it
- One will be forced to fall in the pit dug by self
- One will not be able to take a bath expecting the waves to stop
- One's own deed is great the other's is cashew nut
- Out of anger for the mother in law the daughter in law beats the child
- Outer appearance is big but inside hollow
- Porpoise is in the sea and people standing on the beach are quarrelling for the sharing of the not yet caught porpoise
- Pounding chaff and getting a blister
- Quality of the seed is revealed when it sprouts
- Receive an ash gourd in exchange of a gooseberry
- Remove a thorn with a thorn
- Rich get respect
- Rub (work out) your shoulders and use your tongue less
- Sesame seed is being dried for making oil, but what is the (cockroach's) excreta in it drying for?
- Should one burn the hand without using the available ladle
- Should one hang himself on the tree because it is planted by his grandfather?
- Sit down before straightening your legs
- Sitting in the mortar can one avoid the pounding by the pestle?
- Small people talk more do less
- Spend according to your earnings
- Spilt milk is an offering to lord Krishna
- Spoil the fast by eating sesame seed
- Stones are mostly thrown at mango trees
- Take the medicine given by the grandfather
- Taking a coconut shell as a begging bowl in hand
- Taking pleasure in seeing the daughter in law becoming widow
- Ten lies for one lie
- That which came for the eye touched only the eyebrow
- The Brahmin with filled up stomach will find fault with the curd
- The ash gourd creeper will not feel the ash gourd as heavy
- The ass that desired horns got his ears crippled
- The bitter gourd will taste bitter even if soaked in sugar
- The boy is in the lap but one is seeking in the whole colony
- The brave person in the village is really a coward in front of his wife
- The burden from the head reached the shoulder
- The chicken tries to copy the peacock’s dance
- The chicken which I had seen had three horns
- The compound is an indication of the house
- The cow that has stopped yielding milk is given as a gift to the priest
- The crow's eye is constantly on the tender cucumber
- The crying child will get milk
- The donkey is proud that god is seated upon him
- The ear lobes and the stomach tubes/intestines lengthens as much as needed
- The elephant goes swaying (lavishly) but questions the mosquito
- The flower that is not reachable is left as an offering to god
- The forest is big but there is not a single leaf to tie up asafoetida gum in
- The fox plays on the tiger's whiskers
- The god of cobblers gets the offerings of sandals
- The grief of shaving the head is greater than that of the death of her husband
- The handle of an axe becomes the reason for the destruction of the clan
- The head is as small as a mustard but the umbrella is as wide as the sky
- The innocent are free from fear
- The jasmine flowers in your front yard have less fragrance
- The king's sword is double edged
- The kite (eagle) is not able to fly over money
- The kshetra palaka gets beaten with sawdust
- The leaf does not shake without wind
- The legs of a pampered child are curved
- The mind hurt by a word does not become normal by ten words
- The more you have the more you want
- The morning does not dawn by the crowing of cock
- The mother looks at [her son's] stomach and the wife looks at the bundle [of money]
- The mountain seems smooth from a distance
- The name is great but deeds are small
- The one who cries today laughs tomorrow
- The person who has eaten will want more and one who has taken a bathe will feel he has more dirt
- The relationship between a dog and a cat results in day long fights
- The rich man ordered the servant, the servant ordered the dog, the dog ordered its tail
- The rope ring used for the coconut palm is not suitable for the arecanut palm
- The snack Ghari cannot be made by uttering the sound 'ghar'
- The son-in-law has come the mother-in-law gets clay to eat
- The spade will go in only where it is soft
- The tiger cub does not give up its nature even if it is reared in milk
- The time passed will not return even if pulled by an elephant
- The touch stone which was too heavy to pick up, when covered with gold became easy to carry
- The wealth earned is proportionate to the work you do
- The wooden seat should be according to buttocks and the rice pancakes according to the mouth
- The worm in the cow dung does not feel the stench
- There are nine ways to hell but only one to heaven
- There is no smoke without fire
- There is not a three Pice (old coin of kerala) for the child but has six Pice for using for warding off evil
- Thinking that the sky is going to fall down can one give support to it using one’s shoulders
- Thinking that tomorrow one will die should one go and dig a pit today itself?
- Tiger going on the road come and eat me
- To be contented is great fortune
- To clap one needs two hands
- To eat at husbands and get from paramour
- To go begging when seated on a palanquin
- To kill a mouse no one sets the house on fire
- To live in water and quarrel with the fish
- To transport a load of particular value it costs double the amount
- Today's beggar can become tomorrow's king
- Today's king tomorrow's beggar
- Torch in a blind person's hand
- Truth is always twelve years old
- Truth will never be destructed
- Trying to roast pappad when the beard catches fire
- Trying to take honey using a pole can't make it to fall in the mouth
- Two pieces in a single blow
- Using the pot for watering for the whole day and breaking it in the evening
- Vessels of the same mould one for milk and another for fish
- Water flows towards low-lying areas
- Water on upturned pot
- Water will not be separated into two with a blow
- Wealth has got feathers (wings)
- Wealthy have more desire
- Went to help but received in return excreta on body
- What could have been done with a needle had to be done with a pestle
- What is day or night for a blind person
- What is heard with one ear has to be released through the other ear
- What is in the mind keep it there itself, what is heard from the people keep in public, and keep the basil leaf on the ears
- What is the need for a cat where gold is being weighed?
- Whatever is held under arms must not fall but have to get what is kept on the ledge
- When a lazy person is asked to roast jackfruit seed he says that raw seeds are sweeter
- When a person who is disliked serves food even salt will be saltless
- When alcohol enters the house reasoning power leaves
- When one doesn’t have it in head, if bored and stuffed into, still will vomit it out
- When one has teeth eat chickpeas
- When the banana tree falls on the thorny plant or the thorny stick falls on the banana tree the loss is for the banana tree
- When the cashew/dates ripens the crow has festers in his mouth
- When the girdle is hot fry the pancake
- When the head carries heavy weights why are the legs being envious?
- When the house is burning tries to cut the banana tree
- When the minds of the husband and wife are alike there is food in the vessel
- When the mother in-law and daughter in law quarrels sand falls in the rice
- When the tiger has been locked in the cage anyone can throw a stone
- When work is done there is food
- Where there is food there are too many visitors
- Where there is jaggery there are ants and where there is honey there are flies
- Where there is wealth there is fear
- While toiling cry, while eating laugh
- Whiskers doesn’t get coconut oil but from where does the beard gets jasmine oil
- Why need an axe to take a thorn out of the feet?
- Why should a blind person require spectacles?
- Will a crow become a crane by taking a bath?
- Will a sleeping cat catch a mouse?
- Will not a bloomed flower send out fragrance?
- Will the Nux vomica tree yield jujube fruit?
- Will the mouth feel pain for a person eating bananas
- Will the shadow be white because the body is fair?
- Will throw in the dump but won’t donate
- Wives and earthen pots are equal
- Worship a stone and it becomes god
- Would a barren woman know the pangs of labour
- You can beat someone on the back but don’t beat him on the stomach
- Your hand will not be paid