Turkish Proverbs

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

• A knife-wound heals, but a tongue wound festers.
• A man is judged by his work.
• In a flat country, a hillock thinks itself a mountain.
• Who buys cheap, buys dear.
• For every wise man, there is one still wiser.
• If you give him cloth, he’ll ask for the lining.
• An illness comes by the pound and goes away by the ounce.
• He who borrows, gets sorrows.
• No matter how tall a tree grows, its leaves always fall to the ground.
• A cup of coffee commits one to forty years of friendship.
• If you are an anvil, be patient; if you are a hammer, be strong.
• A good man will appear when talked about.
• With patience, mulberry leaves become satin.
• The sage speaks of what he sees; the fool, of what he hears.
• Stretch your feet according to your blanket.
• A wise man remembers his friends at all times; a fool, only when he has need of them.
• It is easier to make a camel jump a ditch than to make a fool listen to reason.
• A full purse is one’s best companion.
• A heavy stone is not easily moved.
• Two cocks won’t crow on the same dunghill.
• Whoever speaks evil to you of others will speak evil of you to others.
• One can never repay one’s debt to one’s mother.
• God has created us brothers but has given us separate purses.
• The rich man’s wealth tires the poor man’s jaw.
• Kind words will unlock an iron door.
• Patience is bitter, but it bears sweet fruit.
• A neighbor’s hen looks as big as a goose, and his wife as young as a girl.
• A heart in love with beauty never grows old.
• If a dog’s prayers were answered, bones would rain from the sky.
• Thorns and roses grow on the same tree.
• Work as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow.
• Do what your teacher says but not what he does.
• Everybody is a lord in their own home.
• Roses grow where a teacher hits.
• It is easy to catch a serpent with someone else’s hand.
• Ability has no school.
• A fool dreams of wealth; a wise man, of happiness.
• A wise man does his own work.
• Gold doesn’t rust on the ground, and rocks don’t get soaked in the rain.
• Better a wise foe than a foolish friend.
• There is an uphill for every downhill, and a downhill for every uphill.
• A kind word warms a man through three winters.
• Whoever digs a pit for his neighbor should dig it his own size.
• Do not dock the donkey’s tail in a crowd: some will say it’s too long, others it’s too short.
• Every sheep is hung by its own leg.
• Better a calf of one’s own than a jointly owned cow.
• God finds a low branch for the bird that cannot fly.
• A lion sleeps in the heart of every brave man.
• Part with your head but not with your secret.
• Those who know, do not talk; those who talk, do not know.

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