Welsh Proverbs

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

• He who steals an egg will steal more.
• Old age is a hundred disorders.
• Better my own cottage than the palace of another.
• Death considers not the fairest forehead.
• A great sin can enter through a small door.
• The will is a good horse.
• If you want to be a leader, be a bridge.
• Reason is the wise man’s guide, example the fool’s.
• The best way to gather praise or recognition is to die.
• A man without prudence is a ship without an anchor.
• A nation without a language is a nation without a heart.
• Repay evil with good, and Hell will not claim you.
• Starting the work is two-thirds of it.
• Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.
• A youth’s promise is like the froth of water.
• A sword’s honor is its idleness.
• The old know and the young suspect.
• The young laugh when the old fall.
• Without perseverance, talent is a barren bed.
• The world is wide to everybody.
• Things turn sour when you play with fire.
• A ship and a woman are ever repairing.
• The best candle is understanding.
• The greater the hurry, the more obstacles there are.
• A word to the wise, a stick to the unwise.
• The old feel the blows suffered when young.
• The seed of all evil is laziness.
• Three things it is best to avoid: a strange dog, a flood, and a man who thinks he is wise.
• Tapping persistently breaks the stone.
• Speak well of your friend; of your enemy, say nothing.
• The coldness of a friend and the coldness of linen: they never last long.
• Adversity comes with instruction in its hand.
• You must crawl before walking.
• The spring sun is worse than poison.
• Adversity brings knowledge, and knowledge brings wisdom.
• Of a compliment, only one-third is meant.
• To sing before breakfast is to weep before supper.
• It is good to look homewards.
• Three comforts of old age: fire, tea, and tobacco.
• Be a friend to yourself, and others will.
• At the end of the song comes payment.
• A wife’s advice is not worth much, but woe to the husband who refuses to take it.
• Home is home, no matter how poor it may be.
• I was wise once: when I was born, I cried.
• The strength of the old is their ready counsel.
• Memory slips, letters remain.
• Too much pudding will choke a dog.
• Man learns from the cradle to the grave.
• It’s raining old wives and walking sticks.
• Anger is the mother of treachery.

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