Portuguese Proverbs

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

  • A dog bitten by a snake is afraid of sausages.
  • There are many ways to leave this world, but only one way to come into it.
  • An old monkey will not stick his hand into a jar.
  • Good management is better than good income.
  • No one is a good judge of his own case.
  • Peace with a club in hand is war.
  • God gives nuts to those who have no teeth.
  • He buys very dear who begs.
  • To change one’s habits has a smell of death.
  • Be sure not to owe anything to the rich, and don’t lend anything to the poor.
  • Beauty is a good letter of introduction.
  • Never say, “Of this water I will never drink.”
  • Change yourself, change your fortunes.
  • Don’t leave for tomorrow what you can do today.
  • In April, tons of water.
  • Having need of makes the ugly beautiful.
  • Each one with his peer.
  • The mouth that can say “yea,” can say “nay.”
  • Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.
  • There is a remedy for everything; it is called death.
  • Live to live, and you will learn to live.
  • Everyone to his trade.
  • A girl, a vineyard, and a bean field are difficult to guard.
  • An empty purse and a new house make a man wise, but too late.
  • If marriage were a good thing, it wouldn’t need witnesses.
  • Stumbling is not falling.
  • Meowing cats catch fewer mice.
  • A busy mother makes slothful daughters.
  • Beware of silent dogs and still waters.
  • There’s no catching trout with dry breeches.

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

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