The best advice is always the hardest to hear. Oof.

يُنْشَدُ في الصَّمْتِ والأمرِ بهِ [من المنسرح]: ١٤٥٨- إنْ كانَ من فِضَّةٍ كـلامُـكَ يا نَـفْـسُ، فـإنَّ السـكوتَ من ذَهَـبِ

If your speech, oh my soul, is silver,
then silence surely is gold.

وقائلةٍ : قُمْ واسْعَ في طَلَبِ الغِنَىٰ ! — وكيفَ يقومُ المَرْءُ والحَظُّ قاعدُ ؟ اذا لم يَكُنْ وقتُ الرَّخاء بـدائمٍ ، — فأحْرِ بِـها ألاّ تـدومَ الشـدائدُ !

—When Luck's sitting down—
🎲

She said run and seek wealth;
when luck's sitting down how can you stand?

It's true the good times don't last
but neither, then again, do the bad.

— Sibṭ ibn al-Taʿāwīdhī (Iraq, d. 1187)

when the monkey reigns dance before him

Burckhardt has something similar in his Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians

يُنشَد في الشَّيءِ يَذهَبُ قَبْلَ أَنْ يُنْتَهى بِهِ [من الرجز]: ١٤٢٥ – هـذا الـذي قـيـلَ لَـهُ ... أطـيَـبُ مـا كـانَ فَـني

It is recited of the thing that passes away before its time:

This is what they mean when they say:
"the best of what was has vanished."

يُنشَد في المكروبِ يَستغيثُ به المكروبُ [من الكامل]: ١٤٢٦ – بي مِثلُ ما بِكِ يا حَمامَةُ فَاسأَلي ... مَن فَكَّ أَسرَكِ أَن يَفُكَّ وَثاقي

It is recited of the distressed asking aid of the distressed 🕊️

I'm as afflicted as you are, mourning dove,
so ask whoever breaks your bondage to break mine

يُنشَد في المُداراةِ لِصاحِبِ الزَّمان مَعَ حَضرَتِهِ [من الرَّجَز]: ١٤٢٧ – اِسـجُـد لِـقِـردِ الـسـوءِ فـي زَمـانِـهِ ... وَدارِهِ مــــا دامَ فـي سُـلـطـانِـهِ

It's recited regarding placating temporal authorities 🐒

Bow to the evil monkey of the day!
Tell him what he wants as long as he's in power

يُنشَد في الرَّجُلِ تَخرُّجُه فيخرُجُ عليك [من الوافر]: ١٤٣١ – أُعَلِّمُهُ الرِّمايةَ كُلَّ حينٍ ... فَلَمّا اشتَدَّ ساعِدُهُ رَماني وَأُعَلِّمُهُ القَصائِدَ كُلَّ يَومٍ ... فَلَمّا قالَ قافِيَةً هَجاني

I taught him archery;
when his arm grew strong he shot me.
I taught him poetry,
and when he could rhyme he wrote insulting ones against me.

عاشَ بُنَيَّي فَصارَ مِثلي ... يلبس ما قَد خَلعتُ عَنّي فَسَرَّني ما رَأيتُ مِنهُ ... وساءَني ما رَأيتُ مِنّي

—On a son growing up—
🪞

My son's grown up in my image,
he wears now what I've left behind.

It's a joy to see his face —
though it's not a joy to see mine.

—Ibn Abī Fanan (Iraq, d. ca. 890 CE)

هَوِيتُهُ مُكارِياً شَرَّدَ عَنْ عَيْنِي الكَرَى كَأَنَّهُ البَدْرُ فَمَا يَمَلُّ مِنْ طُولِ السُّـرَى

🫏

I loved a donkey-driver;
he drove away sleep from my eye!

He's like a full moon:
untiring as he drives through the night.

al-Sunbulī (Syria, d. 1294)

١٠٣٤ – ثلاثةٌ مجانينُ وإن كانوا عقلاءَ: الغضبانُ، والغيرانُ، والسكرانُ.

"Three kinds of people lose their minds even when they're sane: someone angry, someone jealous, and someone drunk."

Thalāthatun majānīnu wa-in kānū ʿuqalāʾ: al-ghaḍbānu, wa-l-ghayrānu, wa-s-sakrān.

(Syriac)

ܗܘܝܘ ܡܢܬ ܚܪܝܐ ܥܠ ܐܘܪܩܥܬܐ

/huyu mnåṯ ḥaryå ʕal ʔurqaʕtå/

😁 I think phonological avoidance will persist for a while lol

هو قطعة خرا على خرقة

"He's a piece of shit on a rag"

huwa qiṭʿat kharā ʿalā khirqa

Yup

It's interesting that primary education was well-known enough to be proverbial, in addition to the seemingly universal hatred (male) children feel towards it.

- أبغضُ من الكُتّابِ إلى الصبيِّ.

"More detestable than school to a boy."

abghaḍu min al-kuttābi ilā ṣ-ṣabīy

Persian equivalent: az to harakat, az khoda barakat (از تو حرکت، از خدا برکت) "movement from you, blessing from God" = you need to take action, and God will help/reward you for doing so

There's a proverb, ḥaraka baraka (الحركة بركة), which is basically the opposite of this:

"Movement is a blessing."

وله [ من الطويل ]: تمنيت خلات على الدهر أربعاً ... ولم أر مسؤولاً أشح من الدهر جماعاً بلا ضعف، وشرباً بلا سكر، ... وعمراً بلا شيب، وبذلاً بلا فقر

No one is stingier than Fate,
but I asked for four things anyway:

having sex but staying hard,
drinking wine but staying sharp,

spending money but staying rich,
and getting old with my hair still dark.

— Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Khwārazmī (d. 993)

يا حبَّذا الإمارةُ ولو على الحجارة

Arabic proverb of the day:
👑

"How sweet is the throne even if you only rule over a stone!"

It rhymes in Arabic:

yā ḥabbadhā l-imāra wa-law ʿalā l-ḥijāra

Palestinian proverb:

"There are two things no one cares about: the death of the poor and the scandal of the rich."

شغلتين ما حد بيدري فيهم: موت الفقير وفضيحة الغني

shaghlatēn mā ḥad bidrī fīhum: mōt al-faʾīr wa-faḍīḥat al-ghanī

وقد عاش بعد الخلد في الأرض آدمُ ... فإن شئتَ فاعذرني فإني ابنُ آدمِ فياليتني أمسيتُ دهريَ راقداً ... فإني متى أرقد بذكركَ أحلمُ

After perfect Paradise, Adam dwelt on Earth,
so forgive me if you will, for I am human too:

I'd spend my whole life sleeping,
since when I sleep I dream of you.

— Anonymous, quoted in al-Thaʿālibī, Yatīmat al-Dahr

كلام الليل يمحوه النهار

🌜

"The day erases things said at night."

kalāmu l-layli yamḥūhu n-nahār

مصائب الدنيا أكثر من نبات الأرض

🌿

"The misfortunes of this world are more numerous than the plants of the earth."

maṣāʾibu d-dunyā aktharu min nabāti l-arḍ

Those are both great! I wish I knew more Turkish.

Turkish proverb:

"When an ox comes to the palace, it does not become a king. Instead, the palace becomes a barn."

Öküz saraya çıkınca kral olmaz. Ama saray ahır olur.

Elsewhere the general sense is said to be that the people will follow the mores of their political leader.

وقال أبو حازم الأعرج لسليمان بن عبد الملك: إنما السلطان سوق، فما نفق عنده حُمِل إليه.

For this reading of it see the famous 10th-century Andalusī anthology al-ʿIqd al-Farīd where the early eighth-century Medinan scholar Abū Ḥāzim al-Aʿraj was said to have coined it during a conversation with the Umayyad caliph Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik.