Talk:Afghan proverbs

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وينه په وینه نه پاکيږي

    • Transliteration: "Vina pa vina na pakezhi"
    • English Translation: Blood Can't wash Blood. or Revenge can't repair the damage
    • "...however strong your armies may be, you will always need the favour of the inhabitants to the possession of a province."
    • Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (1532), published posthumously

  • از بد بدتر شد
    • Transliteration: "Az bad badtar shud!"
    • English Translation: It got worse than bad!
  • از بد بدتر اش توبه
    • Transliteration: "Az bad bad'taresh toba."
    • English Translation: Fear the worst.
  • از آدم بیکار خدا بیزار
    • Transliteration: "Az adam-e bekar khoda bezar."
    • English Translation: Even God is fed up of workless(lazy} people.
  • با چل چل سگ دریا مردار نمیشود
    • Transliteration: "Ba chal-chale saggh darya mordar namaisha."
    • English Translation: The river won't get dirty just by the leap of a dog.
  • باری کج به منزل نمی رسد
    • Transliteration: "Bar-e kajj ba-manzel na-merasad."
    • English Translation: A tilted load won’t reach its destination.
  • باحلوا گفتن دهان شیرین نمی شود
    • Transliteration: "Ba halwa goftan dahan shirin namishawad."
    • English Translation: The mouth can not taste sweet just by speaking sweetly.
  • با ماه نیشینی ماه شوی، با دیگ نیشنی سیاه شوی
    • Transliteration: "Ba mah nesheen mah shawe -- ba deg nesheni siah shawe."
    • English Translation: If you sit with the moon, you will become like the moon. If you sit beside a cooking pot, you will become black.
    • English Equivalent: A man is known by the company he keeps.
  • بعد از هر تاریکی روشنایی است
    • Transliteration: "Ba'd az har tariki, roshanai ast."
    • English Translation: After every darkness is light.
  • گل پشت و روی ندارد
    • Transliteration: "Gul pusht o rui na-dara."
    • English Translation: The flower has no front or back.
  • هرسخن جایی و هرنقطه مکانی دارد
    • Transliteration: Har sokhan jayee va har noqta makani darad."
    • English Translation: Every word has a place and every dot a coordination.
  • هر جای که سنگ است, به پای بز لنگ است
    • Transliteration: "Har jaye ke sang as, ba pai e boz e lang as."
    • English Translation: Every rock strikes the feet of disabled goat.
  • جنگل که در گرفت، تر و خشک میسوزد
    • Transliteration: "Jangal ke dar greft, khushk wa tar mesoza."
    • English Translation: If a forest catches fire, both the dry and the wet will burn.
  • جوینده یابنده است
    • Transliteration: "Joyenda yabenda st."
    • English Translation: The seeker is a finder.
  • کرم خوده ده بین مار ها دیده میگه ما مارها کجا میریم
    • Transliteration: "Kirm khoda da bain mar ha deeda mega ma mar ha kuja mereem."
    • English Translation: Worm has seen itself among snakes and says where do we snakes go
  • مثل بلبل شیرین گپ میزنی
    • Transliteration: "Mesl-e bulbul gap ha ye shirin mezani."
    • English Translation: You talk sweet like the bulbul bird.
  • نان وپیاز، پیشانی باز
    • Transliteration: "Nan o pyaz? peshani waz!"
    • English Translation: Bread and onion but an open forehead!

Note: This is a literal translation and has nothing to do with a slit open forehead. Means: You are happy when you have no worries...in other words when you have food in your tummy, you are happy.

  • نظافت نصف ایمان
    • Transliteration: "Nizafat nisf iman ast."
    • English Translation: Cleanliness is half of faith. (Cleanliness is next to godliness.)
  • نزن به دروازه کس به انگشت که به دروازه ات میزنند به مشت
    • Transliteration: "Nazan ba darwazayi kas ba angusht ki ba darwazahat mezanan ba mosht."
    • English Translation: Don't hit someone's door by finger because your door will be punched.
  • پنج انگشت برادر است برابر نیست
    • Transliteration: "Panj angusht bradar as, barabar nes."
    • English Translation: Five fingers are brothers but are not equals.
  • قطره قطره جمع شود دریاشود
    • Transliteration: "Qatra qatra jam shawad daria shawad."
    • Scots Equivalent: Mony a mickle, maks a muckle.
    • English Equivalent: Look after the pennies and the Pounds (currency) look after themselves.
  • رحم ازبک، قهر افغان
    • Transliteration: "Rahm e Uzbek o qahre afghan."
    • English Translation: Mercy of an Uzbek; torture of an Afghan.
  • روباه را وقتی شکار گوه میگیرد
    • Transliteration: "Robara wakhte shikar go migrra."
    • English Translation: Fox feels shiting just before hunting.
  • سال نیکو از بهارش پیداست
    • Transliteration: "Sal-e neko az baharesh paeda ast."
    • English Translation: A good year is determined by its spring.
  • صد زدن زرگر یک زدن آهنگر
    • Transliteration: "Sad zadan zargar yak zadan ahangar."
    • English Translation: Goldsmith hits 100 and blacksmith one.
  • صدای دول از دور خوش است
    • Transliteration: "Sadayi dool az door khosh ast."
    • English Translation: "The sound of drum is pleasant from a far distance"
  • سری کل کلای پخمل
    • Transliteration: "sare kal kholay bakhmal"
    • English Translation: "a bald head and a velvet hat, meaning a bald head does not deserve such a fine cloth"
  • تا شمال نشود شاخه تکان نمی خورد
    • Transliteration: "Ta shamal na-shawad, shakha shor na-mekhura."
    • English Translation: As long as there is no wind, the tree won’t blow.
  • تاوقتی که ریش دنیا به تشویش تاوقتی که پکول همه گرنگ و گول
    • Transliteration: "Ta wakht-e rish, dunya ba tashwish. ta wakht-e pakul, ama ganz o gul."
    • English Translation: As long as the beard exists, the world clenches its fists. As long as the pakul hat exists, the world stutters in fits.
    • Notice: This is not really a proverb in Afghan literature or history, it exists during civil war which had happened in the last few years, mainly when Mujahidin groups got the power to rule the country.
  • عقل مند را اشار ه کا فی است
    • Transliteration: "Aqelmand ra eshara kafee ast."
    • English Translation: A sign is enough for the wise man (in order to understand something)

Without seeing the water, don’t take off your shoes آب را نادیده موزه کشیدن خطاست


  • یک روز دیدی دوست، روزی دیگر دیدی برادر
    • Transliteration: "Yak roz didi dost, roze dega didi bradar."
    • English Translation: The first day you see a friend; the next day, a brother.
Return to "Afghan proverbs" page.