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Proverbs of the Balkan Turks

By Levent Ağaoğlu

14/09/2021

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Bitter aubergine does not affected from frost.
The hungry chicken finds itself in the millet barn.
The bandit cannot live without a tree.

Don’t give up your own bulgur for the world’s rice.
He who seeks finds.
Where there is no fire, there is no smoke.
You can’t go up the wall with shoes on.
The idle grocer weighs his cap.
Scolding does a lot of damage.
The one who mixes the honey licks his finger.
Before returning to the fish, the pan is not put on the fire.
Don’t blow someone else’s butt!
Feed the crow, let it play out.
The muddy finds mana.
Neither the servant likes the idle, nor does God.
No matter how big the mosque is, the imam still reads what he knows.
The one who hurts gets burned.
Work my servant, I am the giver.
Don’t knock on the hand’s door, they knock on your door.
Where the gypsy is going to play, the drum explodes.
Remember the gypsy, put your stick next to you!
A fenceless vineyard becomes a mountain.
The sound of the drum is well heard from afar.
It makes him crazy, his relatives are ashamed.
A male dog is not allowed in until the female dog wags her tail.
There is no smokeless chimney, no husband without a fight.
A dog is not tempered with a wedding bone.
The world cannot be seen with the eye of the hand.
It is not possible to get angry with a donkey and get rid of the saddle.
Instead of killing the poor, take your shirt!
Cone by day, armed by night.
Groom’s soil was taken from mother-in-law’s soil.
A person who will not be able to make pilgrimage, will be bitten by a snake on the top of the camel.
Every cry ends with a laugh.
Work for the world as if you will never die, for the next world as if you will die tomorrow.
Where are my two bundles, my dear there.
The age of the woman and the salary of the man are not asked.
Daughter is rotten goods.
Have rotten meat, flies come from Baghdad.
The word is spoken to man.
With tongs, don’t burn your hand.
How you do it, so you find it.
A dead donkey is not afraid of the wolf.
Throw bread to those who throw stones at you.
Confused duck goes off his ass.
Plow the field, shepherd the sheep.
The new rich are feared.
The money of the rich makes the poor man’s mouth tired.

Proverbs of Turks of Bulgaria

The novice farrier learns on the shepherd’s donkey.
Are you hungry, stealing is not a sin.
Aga, not a donkey!
Look at the mouth, act with a bayonet.
Whatever the mother is, so will the calf.
The bee does not run away from honey.
The shoe of a donated donkey is not looked at.
A tree can be understood by its fruit.
For an Arab, not all Arabia sinks.
It comes from the throat.
To the crazy girl, every day is a wedding-holiday.
The meat is from the arm, the wife is from the pedigree, the dog is from the dairy.
Let the wolves eat the useless sheep!
Youth is a disgrace, old age is a farce.
Don’t listen to every word.
He who does good finds evil.
The goat also has a beard.
One who sees the wolf, one knows, two who don’t.
If it was rice, it would be as fat as tuna.
The property is like its owner.
Whoever has the seal, he is Solomon.
How long are we left, hey veteran sultan: donkey became a gunsmith, mule became a seal.
Ripe pears fall on their own.
The borrower, of course, will give.
The sultan eats his bread, reads Muscovy’s prayer.
A man without money, a stove without wood.
With patience, the grove becomes molasses, and the mulberry leaf becomes an atlas.
Health is the greatest asset.
Riding a hard horse is good.
Can’t light a candle for the devil.
The bellman shouted: everyone to their own enjoyment!

Proverbs of Gagauz Turks

The hungry bear doesn’t play games.
Don’t make someone’s servant (child) cry, think of your own.
Leave the anger of the evening to the morning, do not leave the work in the evening.
There is no rake in the Alma (apple) sapling.
The chimney cannot be without tobacco (smokeless).
If you have a thousand friends, it is few; if you have an enemy, it is many.
In this world, it is difficult to fill an empty head.
Can stays under the nail.
God helps the hardworking servant.
It circulates a lot, it comes quickly.
Trouble does not fit in trouble.
Friends are of three types: friend of money, friend of wife, friend of pure.
The world is a ship, the sail of the mind, the rudder of thought.
Be a donkey, lots to saddle up.
The house is without a wife, the man is penniless, let it burn in the fire.
Let the wolves eat the useless sheep.
What good do you expect from a bad person?
The night has no eyes.
The eye sees, it breathes.
The patient recovers on the mattress.
It’s morning without a rooster.
Touch and pass the rapist, avoid the rapist!
Wet, not afraid of rain.
The dog, who looks at the two doors, goes hungry.
They put the good stone in the corner.
The castle is taken from within.
Think fearfully, the end is no.
It opens the word.
The court door does not belong to the kadı.
Tales are many, they have no end.
What is written in the tavern is read in hell.
Nasreddin Hodja used to put a bridle on a dead horse.

Proverbs of Dobruca-Crimean Turks

Don’t rush and talk, you’ll bite your tongue.
God pays girl debt with Qt debt.
Be the head and be the onion head!
A thousand cups do not fill a purse.
Life is sweeter than honey.
He who goes to hell seeks a comrade.
Talking bullshit.
There is no trump card without rot.
Do not be a witness to those who do not know their case!
The troubled is said more than the madman.
The added tail quickly breaks off.
Where meat enters, trouble does not enter.
The poor man’s goat gives birth alone.
The salutation given to the stranger holds the place of gold.
No stone is thrown into the sun.
Not every tree bears fruit.
Even if the rooster does not crow, it will be morning.
Drink turns off the stove.
The owner of the fault does not come out.
The bite does not fill the stomach.
The head of the fruit tree is bent.
Where is unity, where is peace.
Hero is born in war.

Proverbs of Cypriot Turks

Hungry dog washes the oven.
When there is a shortage of men, they call the goat Uncle Abdurrahman.
The heavy stone becomes the cornerstone.
They do not breastfeed a child who does not cry.
The one whose mouth burns from milk, blows the yogurt and eats it.
It’s worse than the rabid used to it.
When God closes one door, he opens a thousand doors.
The golden door needs the silver door.
Look at her mother, take her daughter; look at the edge, get your diaper!
The hungry (hungry) chicken sees himself (in his dream) in the wheat barn.
Ride a horse, wield a sword.
He doesn’t have ayran to drink, he goes to the fountain by horse.
Giving less will be impudent, giving too much will be brazen.
Those who do not settle for a few will not find many at all.
If you look, it becomes a vineyard, if you don’t, it becomes a mountain.
Holding honey, licks fingers.
The quick thief subdues the landlord.
He does not read much, but travels a lot.
The mountain does not meet the mountain, the person meets the human.
It comes from the mountain, the mountain man, it makes the right man sick.
The beating is out of heaven.
It is forged in an iron temper.
State-owned sea, non-eating pig.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
When the death comes, the headache becomes an excuse.
Dig a well for the hand, it falls first by itself.
“Who is your father?” They said, “The horse is my uncle”.
Tie your donkey tight, don’t make your neighbor a thief!
The account at home does not fit the market.
Felek (Destiny) makes some eat melons, some eat (tasteless) kelek.
Bride becomes a house we did not leave, a house is not a house if we do not leave dead.
A thorn prickles the observed eye.
The patient is not asked about soup.
A snake stings a camel to a pilgrim who cannot say no.
The rooster dies, his eye remains in the garbage.
The lover of the licentious wears white on winter’s day.
There is no tong from a straw, no pasha from an Arab.
The pot rolls over and finds its lid.
Wherever you come back from the loss is profit.

Proverbs of Turks of Kosovo

A heavy promise will do quickly.
A dog cannot be tempered with a holiday bone.
A girl with a single eye, no diaper can be bought with a night eye.
The beggar collects the money, the scholar collects the pieces of words.
The beggar collects the pieces of bread, the scholar collects the pieces of words.