Spanish Proverbs

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

• It is never late if the joy is good.
• At night, all cats are black.
• Eyes that don’t see, a heart that doesn’t feel.
• Don’t offer me advice; give me money.
• He who goes to law for a sheep loses his cow.
• The dog that doesn’t walk doesn’t find a bone.
• What a fool does in the end, the wise do in the beginning.
• The foolish sayings of a rich man pass for wise ones.
• A wise man changes his mind; a fool never will.
• Men can acquire knowledge, but not wisdom. Some of the greatest fools ever known were learned men.
• If you want the dog, accept the fleas.
• May every mast hold its own sail.
• That which isn’t in books, life will teach you.
• Not through much awaking early does the dawn come earlier.
• From such a stick, such a splinter.
• There is no happiness; there are only moments of happiness.
• Communism is a cow of many: well milked and badly fed.
• From good wine, good vinegar.
• An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.
• Under a tattered cloak you will generally find a good drinker.
• The shrimp that falls asleep gets carried away by the current.
• The one who reads a lot and walks a lot, sees a lot and knows a lot.
• Deeds are love, words are not.
• Never advise anyone to go to war or to get married.
• He that has no children brings them up well.
• Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you.
• The world is a handkerchief.
• Do the good, and don’t look at whom.
• Blue eyes say, “Love me or I die.” Black eyes say, “Love me or I kill thee.”
• Water for oxen, wine for kings.
• A bird in the hand is worth more than 100 flying.
• Habits are first cobwebs, then cables.
• Who has a trade may go anywhere.
• What is not yours always chirps for its master.
• Since we cannot get what we like, let us like what we can get.
• A word from the mouth is like a stone from a sling.
• A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.
• Drink nothing without seeing it; sign nothing without reading it.
• Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.
• Chins without beards deserve no honor.
• A lot of noise and few walnuts.
• For a dog that I killed, dog-killer they called me.
• Never put off today what you can put off tomorrow.
• The king goes as far as he may, not as far as he could.
• An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship.
• From the saying to the act, there is much distance.
• Honey wasn’t made for the mouth of a donkey.
• Better a friendly refusal than an unwilling consent.
• Two great talkers will not travel far together.
• A rich man is either a scoundrel or the heir of a scoundrel.

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