German Proverbs

Enjoy dozens of witty and insightful German proverbs and idioms that have been passed down from one generation to the next for hundreds of years!

• To call war the soil of courage and virtue is like calling debauchery the soil of love.
• A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs.
• Constant dripping wears away the stone.
• Rest breeds rust.
• A clear conscience is a soft pillow.
• Envy eats nothing but its own heart.
• Nobody is too old to learn.
• Being alone is not even good in paradise.
• Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.
• It is better to trust the eyes rather than the ears.
• Work is our business; its success is God’s.
• The apple doesn’t fall far from the trunk.
• Who laughs last, laughs the best.
• When fortune knocks, open the door.
• One must either be the hammer or the anvil.
• Through injury you become clever.
• In the morning of life, work; in the midday, give council; in the evening, pray.
• Clothes make people.
• Don’t back just one horse.
• Practice makes a champion.
• Mules are always boasting that their ancestors were horses.
• Those that rule must hear and be deaf, must see and be blind.
• Still waters run deep.
• Office without pay makes thieves.
• The worst behaved students turn out to be the most pious preachers.
• In bad fortune, hold out; in good, hold in.
• One hand washes the other.
• The morning hour has gold in its mouth.
• Too aim is not enough, you must hit!
• Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
• Liberty is God’s gift, liberties the Devil’s.
• If you give the devil your little finger, he’ll take the whole hand.
• The covetous man is good to none and worst to himself.
• No answer is also an answer.
• All that glitters is not gold.
• Buying is cheaper than asking.
• The end justifies the means.
• Whoever says A, must also say B.
• A man trying to sell a blind horse always praises its feet.
• You realize who your friends are in an emergency.
• The wise person has long ears and a short tongue.
• Fair flowers are not left standing along the wayside long.
• The greatest step is out the door.
• Never give advice unless asked.
• Who has never tasted what is bitter does not know what is sweet.
• The cleverer one gives in.
• The first step is the hardest.
• Work alone will not make you happy.
• Revenge converts a little right into a great wrong.
• One does evil enough when one does nothing good.

For thousands more proverbs and words of wisdom, collected from over 40 countries, check out Proverbs from Around the World!