They are all actual Russian proverbs, translated literally from Russian. These are just the ones I whittled the list down to! :-) There are more in the comments. The link above provides the original proverbs, the literal translation as well as the English meaning. (I've copied it to the comments too in case the site disappears.)
The quieter you go - the further you'll be.
The casket opened simply
God won't give it away, pigs won't eat it
Written with a pitchfork on water.
There is no truth in feet.
Elder-berry is in the kitchen-garden, and Uncle is in Kiev.
Legs (feet) feed the wolf.
No one goes to Tula with his own samovar.
The devil puts a spoonful of honey into anothers' wife.
Hunger is not your aunt, it won't bring you a pie
Health leaves in poods, but comes in zolotniks.
Both cheap and angry.
The turkey was also thinking, but ended up in the soup.
A kopeck saves the ruble, and the ruble guards your head
You can't forbid living beautifully.
It makes chicken laugh.
Love's evil, you'll love even a goat.
One son is not a son, two sons are half a son, three sons are a son.
Cat will get a downpour of mice's tears
The feather of a falcon and the inside of a crow.
Poor dancer is impeded (even) by his own balls.
You are close to the business, but he is about a white goat.
Fear has large eyes.
He lives well, whose Grandma tells fortunes.
May be naked, but right
What is good to the Russian, is death to the German
1 comment:
The others I liked :-)
Roll as a sausage
For a mad dog, seven versts is not a long detour.
Your elbow is close, yet you can't bite it
God likes trinity.
There'll be a holiday in our street too.
One with a plow — seven with a spoon.
The scolding won't hang on the collar.
Paper will endure all
The eye sees, but the tooth can't bite
A raven won't peck out the eye of another raven.
That's where the dog is buried
Every cricket must know its hearth
Eyes are afraid, but hands are doing
They say they milk the chicken.
A goose is not a pig's friend.
Work is afraid of a skilled worker.
It will heal before your wedding.
At home, even the walls help
A spoon is dear by dinner time
Teaching the fool just spoils him.
The stupid head doesn't give the feet a rest.
If you go for a day, take bread for a week
If you want to work, lie down, sleep, and all will go away
I've got kvas, but not for you.
Eat breakfast yourself, share dinner with a friend, give supper to an enemy.
Yakov's magpie started chattering the same thing about anyone.
Overseas, a cow costs a quarter of kopeck, but it will cost a ruble to ship it here
If you make a fool pray to God, he will hurt both his forehead and other people's toes
The cat knows who's meat it has eaten.
You cannot throw a word out of a song.
Either chest in crosses, or head in bushes.
It is wanted and repellent.
To some war, to others dear mother.
He who gains the rank like a fox, will be a wolf in the rank.
Who dares, eats two.
Who remembers the old, will be deprived of an eye.
Where goes a horse with its hoof, there goes a crayfish with its pincer.
You cannot break a wall with your forehead.
One shouldn't beat the one who fell.
Nosy Barbara's nose was torn off at the market.
If you learn a lot, you'll age soon.
A thief's hat is burning.
Prey runs into a trapper.
Don't open your mouth to eat other people's bread.
You can't throw a handkerchief over somebody's mouth.
The wolf is beaten not for being grey, but for having eaten a sheep.
If not by washing, then by rolling.
The devil is not as scary as they draw him.
Desire is worse then compulsion.
The first swallow doesn't make the spring.
Seat a pig at the table — she'll put her legs on the table.
Trouble is here, so open the gates.
Simplicity is worse than thievery
A dog on the hay: will neither eat himself, nor let others eat
Wolf from Tambov is your friend
Put up wit it, cossack, and you'll be an ataman.
The quieter you go - the further you'll be
Sometimes it's dense, sometimes it's empty, sometimes there's nothing
Only a chicken rakes away from itself.
Don't be afraid of me, job, I'm not going to touch you.
A loss is a gain for the mind.
Persuasion costs more than money.
If you cut it, you won't get it back.
Seven nannies make a kid not looked after.
A moustache is respected, but even goats have beards
Morning is wiser than the evening.
You may call me a pot, just don't put me into the oven.
Nothing is worse than waiting or chasing.
They count chicks in autumn.
Drinking tea is not chopping firewood.
What was written by a pen, cannot be cut down with an axe.
Cat knows who's meat it has eaten.
The tongue takes to Kiev.
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