Turkish Proverbs

Not every stone will hurt your head.

One must fill the pitcher while the water is flowing.

Salt water and absence wash away love.

The account of the donkey is different from that of the donkey-man.

The eyes of the bat are hurt by the light.

The head of the rooster that crows out of time will be cut off. (Important persons, or those who stand out from the rest, are in more danger than others.)

The physician prescribes the medicine, the vulture waits for the body.

The sound of drums sounds nicely from far away. (People are never satisfied with what they have.)

There is no remedy for what will be and who will die.

They throw stones at a tree with fruit.

To the raven's eye, its chickens look like falcons. (Used to express the feeling that any baby looks beautiful to its mother.)

What business does a dog have in the shop of the blacksmith.

When you see a snake, never mind where he came from.

Who gossips to you will gossip about you.

Who steals the minaret will have a cover ready.

You can't run a water mill by carrying water. (Meaning: It is futile to start a business if you don't have a sustainable source or you can't sustain a life style with borrowed money.)

Not he who lived long knows, but he who traveled much knows.

One night with an ugly woman and one day in the mountains both are like an eternity.

Satan's friendship reaches to the prison door.

The baker's child goes hungry.

The father donated a vineyard to his son, the son didn't give a bunch of grapes to the father. (Meaning: Used when a person does something ungrateful and selfish to another person who made good deeds for him.)

The highway is always shorter than the unknown side roads.

The place of your birth is less important than how you live.

The stew of cheap meat will be tasteless.

There is no remedy to be found for what is to happen and dying.