Italian Proverbs

“They say so,” is half a lie.

Italian Proverbs, Translations and Meanings

• A cane scottato l ‘acqua fredda pare calda.
  • English equivalent: Once bitten twice shy.

• A chi bene crede, Dio provvede.
  • English equivalent: God listens to those who have faith/ Have faith and God shall provide.

• A chi parla poco, gli basta la metà del cervello.
  • English equivalent: Least said, soonest mended.
  • “In private animosities and verbal contentions, where angry passions are apt to rise, and irritating, if not profane expressions are often made use of – the least said, the better in general. By multiplying words, cases often grow worse instead of better.”

• A chi vuole, non mancano modi.
  • English equivalent: Where there is a will, there is a way.
  • “If you are sufficiently determined to achieve something, then you will find a way of doing so.”

• A mali estremi, estremi rimedi.
  • English equivalent: Desperate times call for desperate measures.
  • “Drastic action is called for – and justified – when you find yourself in a particularly difficult situation.”

• A goccia a goccia s’incava la pietra.
  • English equivalent: Constant dropping wears away the stone.
  • “A drop hollows out the stone by falling not twice, but many times; so too is a person made wise by reading not two, but many books.” (Giordano Bruno, Il Candelaio)

• Ad ogni pazzo piace il suon del suo sonaglio.
  • English equivalentː Every fool is pleased with his own folly.

• Ad ogni uccello il proprio nido è bello.
  • English equivalent: The bird loves her own nest.

• Aggiungere legno al fuoco.
  • English equivalent: To add fuel to the fire.

• Al buon vino non bisogna frasca.
  • English equivalent: Good wine needs no bush.
  • “A good product does not need advertising.”

• Al piu potente ceda il più prudente.
  • English equivalent: Better bow than break.
  • “It is better to make some confession, or pay a little deference to others, our neighbors, friends, acquaintances, and especially our superiors, rather than lose our credit or break friendship.”

• Alla buona derrata, pensaci su.
  • English equivalent: The best goods are cheapest in the end.

• Anche il pazzo dice talvolta parole da savio.
  • English equivalent: Even a fool may give a wise man counsel.

• Anche il sole passa sopra il fango, e non s’imbratta.
  • Translation: The sun passes over filth and is not defiled.

• Anche in paradiso non è bello essere soli.
  • English equivalent: There is no greater torment than to be alone in paradise.

• Amare e non essere amato, quanto risponde sens esser chiamato.
  • English Equivilent: To love and be loved as it is meant to be

• Amicizia di signore non è retaggio; chi troppo se ne fida non è saggio.
  • English equivalent: A king’s favour is no inheritance.

• Amor, tosse e fumo, malemente si nascondono.
  • English equivalent: Love, smoke and cough are hard to hide.

• Amor tutti eguaglia.
  • English equivalent: Love makes all equal.

• Anche la legna storta dà fuoco diritto.
  • English equivalent: Crooked logs make straight fires.

• Andara a Roma senza vedere il papa.'”
  • English equivalent: He was in Rome and did not see the pope.

• A caval donato non si guarda in bocca.
  • English equivalent: Look not a gift horse in the mouth.
  • “And so with respect to gifts and donations in general, whether their value be more or less, they should be accounted tokens of kindness and received with promptness and cordiality.”

• A carne di lupo, zanne di cane.
  • English equivalent: You must meet roughness with roughness.

• A chi dai il dito si prende anche il braccio.
  • English equivalent: Give an inch and they’ll take a mile.

• A chi Dio vuol castigare leva il cervello.
  • English equivalent: Whom God will destroy, he first make mad.

• A torto si lagna del mare chi due volte ci vuol tornare.
  • English equivalent: He complains wrongfully at the sea that suffer shipwreck twice.

• Aiutati che Dio ti aiuta
  • English equivalent: Help yourself, and God will help you.
  • “When in trouble first of all every one himself should do his best to improve his condition.”

• Al confessore, medico e avvocato, non tenere il ver celato.
  • English equivalent: Conceal not the truth from thy physcian and lawyer.

• Assai pampini e poca uva.
  • English equivalent: He that promises too much means nothing.

• Aspetta, caval, che l’erba cresca.
  • English equivalent: While the grass grows the steed starves.

• Batti il ferro finché è caldo.
  • Translation: Strike while the iron is hot.

• Bella Cosa tosto è rapita.
  • English equivalent: All that is fair must fade.
  • “Nothing lasts forever.”

• Bella in vista, dentro è trista.
  • English equivalent: A fair face and a foul heart.

• Ben finisce chi considera il fine.
  • Translation: He ends well who considers the end.
  • English equivalent: Whatever you do, act wisely, and consider the end.

• Bisogna accomodarsi ai tempi.
  • English equivalent: Gnaw the bone which is fallen to thy lot.

• Bisogna che si levi di buon’ora chi desidera piacere a tutti.
  • English equivalent: He had need rise early who would please everybody.
  • Meaning: “It is impossible to do something that everybody will approve of.”

• Bisogna prima pensare e poi fare.
  • English equivalent: A closed mouth catches no flies.

• Bisogna rischiare la scardola per avere il salmone.
  • Translation: Who wants to win a gander, you need to weigh Drake.
  • English equivalent: Set a herring to catch a whale.

• Bisogna saper afferrare l’occasione pei capelli.
  • English equivalent: Opportunity knocks only once.

• Bocca di miele, cuore di fiele.
  • English equivalent: A honey tongue and a heart of gall.

• Breve orazione penetra.
  • English equivalent: Short prayers reach heaven.
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 75.

• Buon principio fa buon fine.
  • English equivalent: A good beginning makes a good ending; Well begun, is half done.
  • Meaning: Starting properly ensures the speedy completion of a process. A – beginning is often blocked by one or more obstacles (potential barriers) the removal of which may ensure the smooth course of the process.

• Buon seme dà buoni frutti.
  • Translation: Good tree makes good fruit.
  • English equivalent: The fruit of a good tree is also good.
  • Meaning: Good parents will make good children due to example followed closely and daily.

• È meglio qualche cosa che niente
  • English equivalent: Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.

• Can che abbaia non morde.
  • Translation: The dog that barks doesn’t bite.
  • English equivalent: Barking dogs seldom bite.
  • Meaning: People who make the most or the loudest threats are the least likely to take action.

• Camminare sopra il filo di un rasoio.
  • English equivalent: Do not play with edged tools.

• Carta canta.
  • English equivalent: A great friend is Plato, but a greater friend is truth.
  • “No schooling was allowed to interfere with my education.”
  • Attributed to Grant Allen, The New Illustrated magazine (1901)

• Cavallo riscaldato, (e garzon ritornato), non fu mai buono.
  • English equivalent: Take heed of enemies reconciled and of meat twice boiled.
  • Meaning: Your former enemies might cunningly take revenge on you just out of spite.; Trust not a reconciled enemy more than an open foe.

• Chiave d’oro apre ogni porta.
  • English equivalent: A golden key opens any gate but that of heaven.

• Chi affoga s’attaccherrebbe alle funi del cielo
  • English equivalent: A drowning man plucks at a straw.

• Chi ama me, ama il mio cane.
  • Translation: Whoever loves me, loves my dog.
  • English equivalent: Love me, love my dog.
  • Meaning: If you love someone, you will virtually like everything about him.

• Chi aspettar suole, ha ciò che vuole.
  • English equivalent. He that can have patience can have what he will.
  • Other English equivalent: Patience is a remedy for every sorrow.

• Chi ben commincia è meta dell’opra.
  • Translation: Who well begins, is half way through his task.
  • Meaning. Having made the right preparations when beginning a project will save you a lot of time.

• Chi da se stesso può fare alcuna cosa, non aspetti che altri la faccia.
  • Translation: Who by himself can do anything, do not wait for others to do.
  • English equivalent: For what thou canst do thyself, rely not on another.
  • Latin equivalent: Ne quid expectes amicos, quod tute agere possis.
    • Translation: Expect nothing from friends, do what you can do yourself.

• Chi di gallina nasce, convien che razzoli.
  • Translation: As the abbot sings, so the sacristan responds.
  • Meaning: Children will become like older generations.

• Chi di gatta nasce, sorci piglia.
  • English equivalent: What is bred in the bone will not go out of the flesh.
  • Meaning: You can seldom change human nature with the help of logic.

• Chi disordani da giovane se ne pente da vecchio.
  • English equivalent: They who would be young when they are old must be old when they are young.

• Chi due lepri caccia, l’una non piglia, e l’altra lascia.
  • English equivalent: You must not run after two hares at the same time.
  • Meaning: “Concentrate on one thing at a time or you will achieve nothing. – Trying to do two or more things at a time, when even one on its own needs full effort, means that none of them will be accomplished properly.”

• ‘’Chi ha bisogna s’arrenda.’’
  • English equivalent: Beggars can’t be choosers.
  • “We must accept with gratitude and without complaint what we are given when we do not have the means or opportunity to provide ourselves with something better.”

• Chi ha bisogno, domandi.
  • English equivalent: Lose nothing for want of asking.
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 116.

• Chi ha capo di cera non vada al sole.
  • Translation: Who has a head of wax should not be in the sunshine.
  • English equivalent: He that hath a head of wax must not walk in the sun.
  • “If you go looking for a friend, you’re going to find they’re very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.”
  • Zig Ziglar as quoted in The Power of Respect : Benefit from the Most Forgotten Element of Success (2009) by Deborah Norville, p. 65
  • Ward, Caroline (1842). National proverbs in the principal languages of Europe. J.W. Parker. p. 54.

• Chi ha fatto il mala, faccia la penitenza.
  • English equivalent: As you make your bed, so you must lie.
  • “You must put up with the unpleasant results of a foolish action or decision.”

• Chi ha fatto il male, faccia la penitenza.
  • Translation: What you reap is what you sow.

• Chi ha più giudizio più n’adoperi.
  • Translation: To whom much is entrusted, much is required.
  • English equivalent: Everybody to whom much is given, much is expected.
  • Meaning: “More is expected of those who have received more – that is, those who had good fortune, are naturally gifted, or have been shown special favour.”

• Chi ha una retta coscienza possiede un regno.
  • English equivalent: His own desire leads every man.

• Chi he sano e da pie del Sultano.
  • English equivalent: Good health is above wealth.
  • “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world-and loses his health?” Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948)

• Chi ha nome, ha robe
  • English equivalent: A good name is the best of all treasures.

• Chi da giovane ha un vizio, in vecchiaia fa sempre quell’uffizio.
  • Translation: Old habits die hard.

• Chi dorme non piglia pesci.
  • Translation: Those who sleep don’t catch any fish.
  • English equivalent: Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
  • Meaning: “A lifestyle that involves neither staying up late nor sleeping late is good for body and mind and leads to financial success.”

• Chi due lepri caccia, l’una non piglia e l’altra lascia.
  • English equivalent: Grasp all, lose all

• Chi fa da sé, fa per tre.
  • Translation: He who works by himself does the work of three (people).
  • English equivalent: If you want something done right, do it yourself.
  • Note: ironically contradicted by: “L’unione fa la forza” (“Union produces might.”)

• Chi lascia la via vecchia per la nuova, sa quel che lascia, ma non sa quel che trova.
  • English translation:  Whoever leaves the old way for the new knows what he leaves, but does not know what he finds.

• Chi mal pensa, mal abbia.
  • English equivalent: Shame take him that shame thinketh.
  • Meaning: Don’t think evil of others since they most likely act the way they do because of situational factors: Never attribute something to malice which can adequately be explained by stupidity.

• Chi male comincia, peggio finisce.
  • English equivalent: A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
  • Meaning: “It is as impossible that a system radically erroneous, once commenced, should end well, as it is that a mathematical problem, commenced wrong, should come out right.”

• Chi non è meco, è contro a meco.
  • English equivalent: He who is not with me is against me.
  • “If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Insulted and the Injured (1861)
  • Originally from the Bible, Luke 11:23 and Matthew 12:30. Specified as a proverb in (Strauss, 1994 p. 974)

• Chi non fa quando può, non fa quando vuole.
  • English equivalent: He that will not when he may, when he will he may have nay.
  • “Opportunity is like a bald-headed man with only a patch of hair right in front. You have to grab that hair, grasp the opportunity while it’s confronting you, else you’ll be grasping a slick bald head.” Misattributed to Brooker T. Washington This seems to be a paraphrase sumarizing a speech at the Carrie Tuggle Institute, Birmingham, as described in Thinking Black: Some of the Nation’s Best Black Columnists Speak Their Mind (1997) by DeWayne Wickham

• Chi non può fare come vuole, faccia come può.
  • English equivalent: Do as you may, if you can’t do as you could.
  • “Now you can’t have it you want it!” Mitchell Hurwitz, Arrested Development (2003-2006)

• Chi non sa obbedir, non sa comandar.
  • Translation: He who has not obeyed, cannot command.
  • English equivalent: Who has not served cannot command.
  • Meaning: One must have been controlled in the same situation one wishes to properly control others.

• Chi non si lascia consigliare, no si può aiutare.
  • Translation: He who can’t be advised, can also not be helped.
  • English equivalent: He that will not be counseled cannot be helped.
  • “It is always a silly thing to give advice, but to give good advice is absolutely fatal.” The Portrait Of Mr. W. H. (1889), p. 5.
  • Meaning: Advice often contain a genuine warning or an effective suggestion, which is unprudent not to take into consideration.

• Chi non tura bucolia, tera bucape.
  • English equivalent: A stitch in time saves nine.
  • “No one needs to be told that a vast deal of labor is expended unnecessarily. This is occasioned, to a great extent, by the neglect of seasonable repairs.”

• Chi mal pensa, mal abbia.
  • English equivalent: Shame take him that shame thinketh.
  • Meaning: Don’t think evil of others since they most likely act the way they do because of situational factors: Never attribute something to malice which can adequately be explained by stupidity.

• Chi non ha danari in borsa, abbia miel in bocca.
  • Translation: He who has no money in the purse must have honey in the mouth
  • English equivalent: You can catch more flies with a drop of honey than with a barrel of vinegar.

• Chi parla assai, falla spesso.
  • English equivalent: Least said, soonest mended.

• Chi presto denta, presto sdenta.
  • Translation: Those who soon inquire, soon get old.
  • English equivalent: Curiosity killed the cat.
  • Meaning: “Inquisitiveness – or a desire to find about something – can lead you into trouble.”

• Chi ruba poco, ruba assai.
  • English equivalent: He that steals an egg will steal an ox.

• Chi ruba una volta è sempre ladro.
  • English equivalent: Once a drunkard always a drunkard; Once a thief always a thief.

• Chi si loda, si lorda.
  • English equivalent: Don’t blow your own horn.
  • Meaning: Don’t praise yourself.

• Chi si pasce di speranza, fa la fresca danza
  • English equivalent: He that lives on hope will die fasting.
  • Meaning: “Do not pin all your hopes on something you may not attain, because you could up with end nothing.”

• Chi sta bene non si muove.
  • English equivalent: ”Better is the enemy of good.”
  • Meaning: The aim for perfection or mastery might slow down progress.

• Chi sta alle scolte, sente le sue colpe.
  • English equivalent: Eavesdroppers hear no good of themselves.
  • Meaning: “People who eavesdrop on the conversations of others risk hearing unfavorable comments about themselves; used as a warning or reprimand.”

• Chi tardi arriva, male allogia.
  • English equivalent: The early bird gets the worm.

• Chi tosto giudica, tosto si pente.
  • Translation: Who judges soon, soon repents.
  • English equivalent: Hasty judgment leads to repentance.
  • Meaning: A quick evaluation is a terrible evaluation.

• Chi vuol arricchire in un anno, è impiccato in sei mesi.
  • English equivalent: No one gets rich quickly if he is honest.

• Chi vuol dir mal d’altrui, pensi prima a sè stesso.
  • English equivalent: Everyone should sweep before his own door.

• Chi vuol gastigar un villano, lo dia a gastigar ad un altro.
  • English equivalent: Set a thief to catch a thief.

• Chi vuol’ mangiar col diavolo bisogna aver cucchiaio lungo.
  • Translation: He who sups with the devil must use a long spoon.
  • Meaning: Someone who treats others badly will eventually turn on you.

• Chi vuol pigliare uccelli non deve trar loro dietro randelli.
  • English equivalent: Deal gently with the bird you mean to catch.
  • When people are just, they need friendship in addition. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (c. 325 BC), Book VIII, 1155.a26

• Chi vuol saldar pinga non la maneggia.
  • English equivalent: It is not wise to open old wounds.

• Ciò che Dio fa è ben fatto.
  • English equivalent: Each day brings it own bread.
  • Meaning: Try not to worry so much about the future.

• Ciò che e rimasto ha sapore piu dolce.
  • English equivalent: The sweetest flesh is near the bones.

• Con la pazienza s’acquista scienza.
  • Translation: With patience you go beyond knowledge.
  • English equivalent: An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains.
  • Meaning: Patience can often do more than your wits.

• Con nulla non si fa nulla.
  • English equivalent: From nothing, nothing can come.
  • If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten. Neil Strauss, The Game (2005).

• Comprare una gatta nel sacco.
  • English equivalent: Let the buyer have a thousand eyes for the seller wants only one.
  • “I formulate my law, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of SF is crud. Using the same standards that categorize 90% of science fiction as trash, crud, or crap, it can be argued that 90% of film, literature, consumer goods, e.tc is crap.” Theodore Sturgeon Venture (1957)

• Come la cosa indugia, piglia vizio.
  • Translation: As it lingers, so it rakes peril.
  • English equivalent: There is danger in delay.
  • Meaning: “Hesitation or procrastination may lead to trouble or disaster.”

• Contro i difetti del vicin t’adiri, e gli stessi difetti in te non miri.
  • English equivalent: Forget other faults remembering your own; Forgive and forget.

• Credi agli anni.
  • English equivalent: Counsel is no command.
  • Meaning: He who gives you advice has not the ambition to control, and does not claim to know better than you; Beware of letting your feelings cloud your judgment.

• Da chi mi fido, mi guardi Dio, da chi non mi fido guarderò io.
  • Translation: Let God protect me from those I trust, I’ll protect myself from those I don’t.
  • English equivalent: A mans worst enemies are often those of his own house.

• Da colpa nasce colpa
  • English equivalent: Deep calls to deep.
  • “The more of the context of a problem that a scientist can comprehend, the greater are his chances of finding a truly adequate solution.” Russell L. Ackoff, The development of operations research as a science (1956)

• Dai cattivi costumi nascono le buone leggi.
  • English equivalent: Good laws have sprung from bad customs.

• Dal frutto si conosce l’albero.
  • English equivalent: The apple does not fall far from the tree.
  • Meaning: Children observe daily and — in their behaviour — often follow the example of their parents.

• Dal riso molto conosci lo stolto.
  • English equivalent: A fool is ever laughing.
  • Emanuel Strauss (1994). “137”. Concise Dictionary of European Proverbs. Routledge. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-136-78978-6.

• Dare il diavolo ciò che gli spetta.fe meglio
  • English equivalent: Give the devil his due.
  • “Bad conduct soils the finest ornament more than filth.” Plautus, Mostellaria, I. 3. 133.

• Di buona volontà sta pieno l’inferno.
  • Translation: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

• Dimmi con chi vai, e te dirò chi sei.
  • English equivalent: A man is known by the company he keeps.

• Dio mi guardi da chi studia un libro solo.
  • English equivalent: Fear the man of one book.

• Dolor comunicato è subito scemato.
  • English equivalent: A problem shared is a problem halved.

• Doni di nemici non sono doni.
  • Translation: Gifts of enemies are no gifts.
  • Note: “This advice has its root in the story of the Trojan Horse, the treacherous subterfuge by which the Greeks finally overcame their trojan adversaries at the end of the Trojan War.”
  • English equivalent: Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
  • Meaning: “Do not trust gifts or favors if they come from an enemy.”

• Dopo il cattivo, viene il bel tempo.
  • English equivalent: After rain comes sunshine.

• Du stagione tutto.
  • English equivalent: Man proposes, God disposes.
  • “Plans are insulted destinies. I don’t have plans, I only have goals.” Ash Chandler, Freudian Slip, Mumbai Mirror Buzz, April 2006.

• È il tono che fa la musica.
  • English equivalent: It is not what you do, but the way that you do it; Halls don’t grace men, it’s men that grace halls.
  • “Everybody wants something, but they don’t know how to ask for it.” Tony Gayon, Murder by Numbers (2002)

• È meglio cader dalla finestra che dal tetto.
  • Translation: It’s better to fall from the window than from the roof.
  • English equivalent: Choose the lesser of two evils.
  • Meaning: “If you are forced to choose between two options, both of which are undesirable, all you can do is choose the one that is less undesirable than the other.”

• È meglio che si dica ‘qui il tale fuggi’ che ‘qui il tale mori’.
  • Translation: It is better to say “here he ran” than “here he died”.
  • English equivalent: He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day.
  • Meaning: “It is wiser to withdraw from a situation that you cannot win than to go on fighting and lose – by a strategic retreat you can return to the battle or argument with renewed energy at a later date.”

• È meglio un presente che due futuri.
  • Translation: Better one now, than two in the future.
  • English equivalent: One today is worth two tomorrows.

• È meglio star solo che mal accompagnato.
  • Translation: It is better to be alone than to be in bad company.
  • English equivalent: Better be alone than in bad company.

• È sempre buono avere due corde per un arco.
  • English equivalent: Good riding at two anchors, men have told, for if the one fails, the other may hold.

• Egli e mal sordo che non vuol udire.
  • English equivalent: None so deaf as those who will not hear.

• Egli fa roba sull’ acqua.
  • Translation: He makes things over the water.
  • English equivalent: All is fish that comes to the net.
  • Meaning: Anything that comes along is accepted and turned to advantage.

• Esperienza, madre di scienza.
  • English equivalent: Experience is the mother of wisdom.
  • “Experience is what you get when you did not get what you wanted.” Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture (2007)

• Far d’una mosca un elefante.
  • English equivalent: Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.
  • Kelly, Walter Keating (1859). Proverbs of all nations (W. Kent & co. (late D. Bogue) ed.). p. 58.

• Finché c’è vita c’è speranza.
  • Translation: “Where there’s life, there’s hope.”

• Fare il passo più lungo della gamba.
  • English equivalent: Don’t have too many irons in the fire.

• Fate quello che dico e non quel che faccio.
  • English equivalent: Preachers say: do as I say, not as i do.
  • Possible interpretation: One should not reprimand those who are younger than himself, when they are merely doing what he does or has done.

• Fortuna i forti aiuta, e i timidi rifiuta.
  • English equivalent: Fortune favors the bold.
  • Meaning: “Those who act boldly or courageously are most likely to succeed.”

• Tra il dire e il fare c’è di mezzo il mare.
  • Translation: “An ocean lies between what is said and what is done.”
  • English equivalent: “Easier said than done.”

• Fuggi il piacer presente, che accena dolor futuro.
  • Translation: Skip the enjoyment that you will regret.
  • English equivalent: Avoid the pleasure which will bite tomorrow.

• Gettar le margherite si porei.
  • English equivalent: Do not throw pearls before swine.

• Granata nuova scopa bene tre giorni.
  • English equivalent: New brooms sweep clean.
  • Meaning: Newcomers are the most ambitious.

• Guarda innanzi che tu salti.
  • English equivalent: Look before you leap.
  • “The man who thinks before he acts, is most likely to act with discretion, and have no future cause to repent of his conduct; but he who acts blindly, without any foresight, will probably suffer for his rashness.” Trusler, John (1790). Proverbs exemplified, and illustrated by pictures from real life. p. 115.

• Guardatevi dai falsi profeti.
  • English equivalent: Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, and inwardly are ravening wolves.
  • Meaning: The seemingly most respectable people are quite often scoundrels; Evil people often act innocently.

• I buoni nuotatori al fin si affogano.
  • English equivalent: Good swimmers are often drowned.

• I fatti son femmine, e le parole maschi.
  • English equivalent: Deeds are fruits, words are but leaves.
  • “It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action.” Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living (1937)

• I fratelli uniti tra loro formano un fascio che pùo resistere agli sforzi più robusti.
  • English equivalent: United we stand, divided we fall; Union is strength.

• I ladri grandi fanno impiccare i piccolo.
  • English translation:  The big thieves make the little ones hang.

• I frutti proibiti sono i più dolci.
  • Translation: Forbidden fruit is sweetest.
  • English equivalent: Forbidden fruit is sweet.
  • Meaning: “Things that you must not have or do are always the most desirable.”

• I pensieri fanno mettere i peli canuti.
  • Translation: Sorrow makes gray hairs before the time.
  • English equivalent: Fretting cares make grey hairs.
  • Meaning: Worrying is a negative activity that can age you prematurely.

• I primi saranno gli ultimi.
  • English equivalent: The last will be first, and the first last.
  • Meaning: Those who humbly serve the Lord will be rewarded, and those who are arrogant will be humbled.; Humbleness is a virtue, pride is a sin.

• I topi abbandonano la nave che affonda.
  • English equivalent: Rats desert a sinking ship.
  • Meaning: An organization or leader in trouble will quickly be abandoned.

• Il bugiardo deve avere buona memoria .
  • English equivalent: A liar should have a good memory.
  • Meaning: “Liars must remember the untruths they have told, to avoid contradicting themselves at some later date.”

• Il buon sangue giammai non può mentire.
  • English equivalent: Good blood always shows itself.

• Il dolce far niente.
  • Translation: The sweet do nothing.
  • Reported as “a well known Italian proverb” in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

• Il cane abbaia, ma la carovana passa.
  • Translation: The dogs bark but the caravan passes on.
  • Meaning: Let the world say what it will.
  • Source: Strauss, Emmanuel (1998). Dictionary of European Proverbs. Routledge. p. 340. ISBN 0415160502.

• Il castigo puo differirsi ma si toglie.
  • English equivalent: Punishment is lame but it comes.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). Dictionary of European proverbs (Volume 2 ed.). Routledge. p. 682. ISBN 0415096243.

• Il cuor non spaglia.
  • English equivalent: The heart sees farther than the head.
  • “Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than with the imagination being awake?” Leonardo da Vinci, The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1938), XIX Philosophical Maxims. 

• Il denaro è fatto per spendere.
  • Translation: The hidden things of wisdom and a treasure that is not seen, what profit is in them both?
  • English equivalent: Money is there to be spent.

• Il denaro non fa la felicità.
  • Translation: Wealth does not bring happiness.
  • English equivalent: Wealth rarely brings happiness.
  • Note: Another way to phrase this is by this quote:

“No one – not a single person out of a thousand [elderly interviewed because of their wisdom expertise] – said that to be happy you should try and work as hard as you can to make money to buy the things you want.

No one – not a single person –– said it’s important to be at least as wealthy as the people around you, and if you have more than they do it’s real success.

No one – not a single person –– said you should choose your work based on your desired future earning power.”

• ‘’Il faut prendre le bénéfice avec les charges.’’
  • English equivalent: Beggars can’t be choosers.
  • We must accept with gratitude and without complaint what we are given when we do not have the means or opportunity to provide ourselves with something better.”

• Il frutto cade non lontano dall’albero.
  • English equivalent: The apple does not fall far from the tree.
  • Meaning: Children observe daily and — in their behaviour — often follow the example of their parents.

• Il male vien a cavallo e se ne va a piedi.
  • English equivalent: “Misfortune comes on horseback and goes away on foot.”

• Il meglio ricolga il peggio.
  • English equivalent: Bad is the best choice.
  • “I always search good in bad. l also search bad in good.” Vennu Malesh, It’s My Life (2012)

• Il mondo è ingrato
  • Translation: Ingratitude is the world’s reward.

• Il mondo è fatto a scale, chi Ie scende, e chi le sale.
  • English equivalent: Every dog has his day.

• In bocca chiusa non entrò mai mosca.
  • Translation: Into a closed mouth no flies ever entered.
  • English equivalent: A close mouth catches no flies.
  • Meaning: It is wise not to speak when it is not necessary.

• In cento anni o cento mesi, l’acqua torna a’ suoi paesi.
  • Translation: In a hundred years or in a hundred months, the water doesn’t come back to it’s source.
  • English equivalent: It will all be the same a hundred years hence.
  • Meaning: So what if you embarrass yourself?

• In gioventù devi acquistare, quel che in vecchiaia può giovare.
  • English equivalent: Diligent youth makes easy age.
  • Meaning: If you live your youth years diligently, it will save you from regret when you are old. That is, you take care of your health and do things you like that virtually only young people can do.

• Il più forte ha sempre ragione.
  • English equivalent: Accusing is proving, when malice and force sit judges; The wolf finds a reason for taking the lamb

• Il piu povero che sia in terra è l’avaro.
  • English equivalent: The covetous man is good to none and worst to himself.

• Il primo amore non si scorda mai.
  • English equivalent: True love never grows old.

• Il remedio e peggio del male
  • English equivalent: The remedy is often worse than the disease; Burn not your house to rid it off the mouse.
  • Meaning: The effect of a treatment or bodily enhancement – whether pharmaceutical or not, whether a household remedy or professional-ordained – is often worse than what it was intended to cure or alleviate.

• Il secondo pensiero è il migliore.
  • English equivalent: Second thoughts are the best.

• Il serpe tra’ fiori e l’erba giace.
  • English equivalent: Look before you leap, for snakes among sweet flowers do creep.

• Il tuo nemico è quello dell’area tua.
  • Translation: Those are bad dogs who bite their own people.
  • English equivalent: Don’t wash your dirty linen in public; It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest.
  • Meaning: Don’t speak in public of unpleasant private affairs; Don’t speak ill of yourself and the groups you belong to.

• In casa di calzolaio non si hanno scarpe.
  • Translation: In the house of the shoemaker there are no shoes.
  • English equivalents: Cobblers’ children are worst shod; The shoemaker goes barefoot. The shoemaker’s wife and the smith’s horse have not shoes.
  • Meaning: “Working hard for others one may neglect one’s own needs or the needs of those closest to him.”

• In terra di ciechi, beato a chi ha un occhio.
  • English equivalent: Among the blind, the one-eyed is king.
  • “People of only limited capability can succeed when surrounded by those who are even less able than themselves.”

• Intendere è potere.
  • English equivalent: Learning is the eye of the mind.

• Ipanni rifanno le stanghe.
  • English equivalent: Fine feathers make fine birds.

• La pigrizia è la chiave della povertà.
  • English equivalent: Poverty is the reward of idleness.

• L’onestà è la migliore politica.
  • English equivalent: Honesty is the best policy.
  • Meaning: “Being honest or telling the truth is always the wisest course of action.”

• L’invidia è annessa alla felicità.
  • English translation:  Envy is attached to happiness.

• L’invidia non morÌ mai.
  • English equivalent: Envy takes no holiday.

• L’uomo si giudica mal alla cerca.
  • English equivalent: Judge not a man and things at first sight.
  • “No good Book, or good thing of any sort, shows its best face at first.” Thomas Carlyle, Essays, “Novalis” (1829)

• La galline fanno l’uova dal becco.
  • English equivalent: It’s by the head that the cow gives the milk.

• La gatta frettolosa ha fatto i gattini ciechi.
  • English equivalent: The hasty bitch bringeth forth blind whelps.
  • Meaning_ “Things done in haste tend to produce poor results.”

• La maggior’ sventura o ventura dell’uomo è la moglie.
  • English equivalents: Choose a wife rather by your ear than your eye; A man’s best fortune or his worst is a wife.

• La lepre mal si prende al suono di tamburo.
  • English equivalent: Drumming is not the way to catch a hare.
  • “When people are just, they need friendship in addition.” Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (c. 325 BC), Book VIII, 1155.a26

• La maggior’ sventura o ventura dell’uomo è la moglie.
  • English equivalent: A cheerful wife is the spice of life.

• La miglior difesa è l’attacco.
  • Translation: The best defense is attack.
  • English equivalent: The best defence is a good offence.
  • Meaning: “You are more likely to win if you take the initiative and make an attack rather than preparing to defend yourself.”

• La pigrizia è la chiave della povertà.
  • English equivalent: Poverty is the reward of idleness.

• La roba di mal acquisto se la porta il vento.
  • English translation:  The badly bought stuff is carried by the wind.

• La più lunga strada è la più prossima a casa.
  • English equivalent: The highway is never about.

• La storia si ripete.
  • English equivalent: Something that has happened once can happen again.

• La superbia viene davanti alla rovina.
  • Translation: Pride comes before fall.

• La varietà piace.
  • English equivalent: Variety is the spice of life.

• La volpe in vicinato non fa mai danno
  • English equivalent: A crafty fox never preys near his den.

• Loda il mare e tienti alla terra.
  • English equivalent: Praise the sea, but keep on land.

• Mal comune, mezzo gaudio.
  • English equivalent: “Misery loves company.”

• Mal si mangia le lepre, se prima non si piglia.
  • English translation: Badly you eat hare, if you don’t take it first.

• Male prevede chi non provvede.
  • English equivalent: God helps those who help themselves.

• Medico, cura te stesso!
  • English equivalent: Physician, heal yourself!
  • Meaning: Don’t correct other’s faults; correct your own faults instead.

• Meglio è tornar indietro, che correr male avanti.
  • Translation: Better to turn back, than to painfully move forward.
  • English equivalent: Better go about than fall into the ditch.
  • Meaning: Cut your losses.

• Meglio tardi che mai.
  • English equivalent: Better late than never.
  • Meaning: “It is better that somebody arrives or something happens later than expected or desired, than not at all.”

• Meglio prevedere che provvedere.
  • Translation: It is better to prevent than to cure.
  • English equivalent: An ounce of preventions is better than a pound of cure.

• Mettere il carro innanzi ai buoi.
  • Translation: To set the cart before the horse.
  • English equivalent: Don’t put the cart before the horse.
  • Meaning: “It is important to do things in the right or natural order.”

• Molta paglia, poco grano.
  • Translation and English equivalent: Great cry and little wool.
  • Meaning: “Much ado about nothing.”

• Muove la coda il cane, non per te, ma per il pane.
  • English equivalent: He who acts friendly does not seek your affection, but a specific thing from you.

• Ne uccide più la gola che la spada.
  • English equivalent: Gluttony kills more than the sword.

• Neccessità non ha legge.
  • Translation: Necessity knows no law.
  • English equivalent: Necessity has no law..
  • Meaning: It is acceptable to break rules in times of need.

• Nel dubbio, astieniti.
  • English equivalent: When in doubt, leave it out.
  • Meaning: “If you are unsure what to do, it is best to do nothing at all.”

• Nella felicità ragione; nell’infelicità pazienza.
  • English equivalent: If fortune favours, beware of being exalted; if fortune thunders, beware of being overwhelmed.

• Nemico diviso, mezzo vinto.
  • Translation: Enemy divided, half won.
  • English equivalent: Divide and conquer.
  • Meaning: “The best way to conquer or control a group of people is by encouraging them to fight among themselves rather than allowing them to unite in opposition to the ruling authority.”

• Nessun sente da che parte preme la scarpa, se non chi se la calza.
  • English equivalent: Needs must when the devil drives.
  • Meaning: It is acceptable to break rules in times of need.

• Nessun sente da che parte preme la scarpa, se non chi se la calza.
  • English equivalent: No one knows where the shoe pinches, but he who wears it.

• Nessuno è indispensable.
  • English equivalent: No man is indispensable.

• Niente di nuovo sotto il sole.
  • English equivalent: Nothing is new.
  • Meaning: Absolutely everything has been done before.

• La notte è la madre dei pensieri.
  • Night is the mother of thoughts.
  • English equivalent: Take counsel of one’s pillow.
  • Note: Specified as an Italian proverb in the source.

• Non bisogna fare le cose a metà.
  • English equivalent: If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.

• Non bisogna puntare tutto sulla stessa carta.
  • English equivalent: “Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket.”

• Non c’è avere che voglia sapere.
  • English equivalent: ”A good mind possess a kingdom.”
  • Meaning: Material assets are fleeting, but intellectual assets will basically stay with you for the rest of your life. Therefore, intellectual assets are much more worth than material ones.

• Non c’è due senza tre.
  • English equivalent: All good things are three.

• Non dare consigli a chi non li chiede.
  • English equivalent: Give neither salt nor counsel till you are asked for it.

• Non doe seguir amor chi non ha valore.
  • English equivalent: Faint heart never won fair lady.
  • Meaning: “It is necessary to be bold and courageous to win the heart of a woman – or to achieve any other cherished objective.”

• Non fu mai gloria senza invidia.
  • English equivalent: Envy always shooteth at a high mark.

• Non ha il dolce a caro, chi provato non ha l’amaro.
  • Translation: To taste the sweet, you must taste the bitter.
  • English equivalent: No pain, no gain; Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
  • Meaning: Where there is no adversity of some sort there is seldom anything to win; No or little adversity is a sign that fortune has forgotten you.

• Non ricordar il capestro, in casa dell’impiccato.
  • Translation: In the house of the hanged man, mention not the rope.
  • English equivalent: Name not a rope in his house who hanged himself.

• Non si dice mai tanto una cosa che non sia qualche cosa
  • English equivalent: “The voice of the people is the voice of god.”

• Non si è mai troppo prudenti.
  • English equivalent: Better safe than sorry.
  • Meaning: Things that has happened will happen again. Religious myths for example, which are allegorical, will per definition reoccur.
• Non perché grigio il lupo è bastanato, ma perché la pecora ma ha sbranato.
  • English equivalent: The sin is not in the sinning, but in the being found out.

• Non si è mai troppo prudenti.
  • Translation: One can never be too careful.

• Non si puo fare stringhe della propria pelle.
  • English equivalent: Don’t burn the candles at both ends.
  • Meaning: Don’t wake up early in the morning and stay up late into the evening as well.

• Non si può cavar sangue dalla rapa.
  • English equivalent: You can’t milk a bull.

• Non si serra mai una porta che non se n’apra un’altra.
  • English equivalent: When one door closes another opens.
  • Meaning: “When baffled in one direction a man of energy will not despair, but will find another way to his object.”

• Non si può aver il miele senza la pecchie.
  • English equivalent: Honey is sweet, but the bees sting.

• Non si tosto si fa un tempio a Dio come il diavolo ci fabrica una capella appresso.
  • English equivalent: Where god has a church the devil will have his chapel.
  • “Very seldom does any good thing arise but there comes an ugly phantom of a caricature of it.”

• Non tutte le ciambelle riescono col buco.
  • English equivalent: Not all truths are proper to be told.

• Non v’ha libro sí cattivo che non abbia qualcosa di buono.
  • English equivalent: No book was so bad, but some good might be got out of it.

• ‘’Nu mesura pe altii cu palma ta.’’
  • English equivalent: Do not judge others by your own yardstick.
  • “l often went fishing up in Maine during the summer. Personally I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I have found that for some strange reason fish prefer worms.” Dale Carnegie, How to win friends and influence people (1933)

• Nutritura passa natura.
  • English equivalent: Nature is beyond all teaching.

• Odi, veti et tace, se voi vivir in pace.
  • English equivalent: Keep your mouth shut and your ears open.

• Ofele, fa el to meste!.
  • English equivalent: A blind man should not judge of colours.
  • “An uneducated man cannot judge of the attainments of the learned.”

• Oggi a me, domani a te.
  • Translation: Today for me, and tomorrow for you.
  • English equivalent: Today me, tomorrow thee.

• Ogni cosa ha cagione.
  • Translation: Everything has a reason.
  • English equivalent: Every why has a wherefore.
  • Meaning: “Everything has an underlying reason.”

• Ogni cuffia è buone por Ie natte.
  • English equivalent: At night all cats are grey.

• Ogni cosa si compra a prezzo.
  • Translation: Everything you buy at the price.
  • English equivalent: You don’t get anything for nothing.
  • Meaning: “Everything has to be paid for, directly or indirectly, in money or in kind.”

• Ogni paese al valent’uomo è patria.
  • English equivalent: Great minds agree.

• Ogni regola ha la sua eccezione.
  • Translation: No rules without exceptions.
  • English equivalent: There is no rule without an exception.

• Ogni verità non è a dire.
  • English equivalent: All truths are not to be told.

• Ognun si pari le mosche con la sua coda.
  • English equivalent: Every bird must hatch its own eggs.
  • Meaning: We must depend on ourselves: financially and otherwhise.

• Oro è che oro vale.
  • English equivalent: Everything is worth its price.

• Pazzo chi perde il volo per lo sbalzo.
  • English equivalent: One must step back to take a good leap.
  • “Information processing keeps going on even when we are not aware of it, even while we are asleep.”

• Per gnente l’orbo no canta.
  • English equivalent: You can’t get something for nothing.

• Perdere il trotto per l’ambiadura.
  • English equivalent: Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

• Paese che vai, usanze che trovi.
  • English equivalent: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

• Più grande la compagnia, più ci si diverte.
  • English equivalent: The more the merrier.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). Dictionary of European proverbs (Volume 2 ed.). Routledge. p. 1094. ISBN 0415096243.

• Poeta si nasce, oratore si diventa.
  • English equivalent: Poets are born, but orators are trained.

• Presto matura, presto marcio.
  • English equivalent: Early ripe, early rotten.

• Prudenza è madre di sicurezza.
  • English equivalent: Caution is the parent of safety.

• Ride bene chi ride ultimo.
  • English equivalent: He who laughs last, laughs longest.
  • Meaning: “Minor successes or failures along the way are of no significance – the person who is ultimately triumphant is the only real winner.”

• Quale il padre tale il figlio.
  • Translation: Such father, such son.
  • English equivalent: Like father, like son.
  • Meaning: Sons may look and behave like their fathers. This is due to inheritance and the example observed closely and daily.

• Quand’un è per terra, ognun grida: dagli, dagli!.
  • English equivalent: Don’t hit a man when he is down.

• Quando l’amico chiede, non v’è domani.
  • Translation: When a friend asks, there is no tomorrow.
  • English equivalent: When thy friend asks, let there be no to-morrow.

• Quando la testa duole tutte le membra languono.
  • Translation: When the head aches all the members languish.
  • English equivalent: When the head is sick, the whole body is sick.

• Quando tutti dicono ubriaco, va’ a dormire (letto).
  • English equivalent: When all men say you are an ass it is time to bray.
  • “I think any man in business would be foolish to fool around with his secretary. If it’s somebody else’s secretary, fine!”
  • Attributed to Barry Goldwater in: Conference Board (1978) Across the board. Vol. 15. p. 74.

• Quel che ciondola non cade.
  • Translation: All that dangles does not fall.
  • English equivalent: All is not lost that is in danger.
  • Meaning: Alltough your undertaking is in peril, it does not necessarily mean you are failing.

• Quel che ciondola, non cade.
  • English equivalent: Bitter pills may have blessed effects.
  • “Present afflictions may tend to our future good.”

• Quel che pare burla, ben sovente è vero.
  • English equivalent: Many a true words are spoken in jest.
  • “A joke’s a very serious thing.” Charles Churchill, The Ghost (1763), book iv, line 1386

• Scusa non richiesta, accusa manifesta.
  • English equivalent: A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
  • Meaning: “People who know they have done wrong reveal their guilt by the things they say or the way they interpret what other people say.”

• Se la montagna non va da Maometto, Maometto viene alla montagna.
  • Translation: If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, Mohammed must come to the mountain.
  • English equivalent: If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain.
  • Meaning: “If you cannot get what you want, you must adapt yourself to the circumstances or adopt a different approach.”

• Se piovesse maccheroni, che bel tempo pei ghiottoni.
  • English equivalent: If the sky falls, we shall catch larks.
  • “Life is far too important to be taken seriously.”
  • Originally “Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it.” Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892)
  • Divers Proverbs with Their Explication & Illustration, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [1]

• Se vende i suoi figli per il formaggio non puo riaverli dopo aver mangiato la pizza.
  • Translation: If you sell your children for cheese, you can’t get them back after you’ve eaten the pizza.
  • English equivalent: What is done, is done.

• Secondo la misura che farai, misurator ancor sarai.
  • English equivalent: Whatever measure you deal out to others will be dealt back to you.

• Secondo la paga, il lavoro.
  • Translation: What pay, such work.
  • English equivalent: You get what you pay for.

• Senza tentazioni, senza onore.
  • Translation: Where there is no temptation there is no glory.
  • English equivalent: Without temptation there is no victory.
  • Meaning: Not being tempted is a sign that fortune has forgotten you.

• Si dice sempre il lupo più grande che non è.
  • Translation: The wolf is made bigger than it is.
  • English equivalent: A story never loses in the telling.
  • Meaning: Lying a little might make the story better.

• Si mira piu dell’affetto che all’effetto.
  • Translation: The aim is more to the effect of affection.
  • English equivalent: Take the will for the deed.
  • Meaning: Look at the well intended effort, and not its effects.

• Spazzatoio nuovo spazza ben la casa. (Italian)
  • Translation: A new broom sweeps well the house.
  • English equivalent: A new broome sweepeth cleane.
  • Meaning: “We should never use an old tool when the extra labor in consequence costs more than a new one. Thousands wear out their lives and waste their time merely by the use of dull and unsuitable instruments.”
  • Alternate meaning: “We often apply it to exchanges among servants, clerks, or any persons employed, whose service, at first, in any new place, is very good, both efficient and faithful; but very soon, when all the new circumstances have lost their novelty, and all their curiosity has ceased, they naturally fall into their former and habitual slackness.”
  • Source for meaning: Porter, William Henry (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order …. Munroe and Company. p. 38.

• Tal madre, tal figlia .
  • Translation: Such mother, such daughter.
  • English equivalent: Like mother, like daughter.
  • Meaning: Daughters may look and behave like their mothers. This is due to inheritance and the example observed closely and rarely.

• Tal mano si bacia che si vorrebbe veder tagliata.
  • English equivalent: Many kiss the hand they wish to cut off.

• Tal sonata, tal ballata.
  • English equivalent: Just as one calls into the forest, so it echoes back.
  • Meaning: Do not expect friendly reply when being obnoxious.
  • Meaning: Bad language may have other causes than innate bad character.

• Tra/fra moglie e marito non ci mettere il dito.
  • Translation: Between wife and husband don’t put a finger.
  • English equivalent: Don’t go between the tree and the bark.

• Tutto è bene quel che riesce bene.
  • English equivalent: All is well that ends well.
  • “Problems and misfortunes along the way can be forgotten as long as the end is satisfactory.”

• Tutte le strade conducono a Roma.
  • English equivalent: All roads lead to Rome.
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 10.

• Un nemico è troppo o cento amici non bastano.
  • English equivalent: Do not think that one enemy is insignificant, or that a thousand friends are too many.

• Uno semina, l’altro raccoglie.
  • English equivalent: One sows, the other reaps

• Uomo avvisato è mezzo salvato.
  • English equivalent: Forewarned, forearmed.

• Val meglio essere matti in compagnia che savi da soli.
  • English equivalent: Better foolish by all than wise by yourself.
  • Emanuel Strauss. “70”. Concise Dictionary of European Proverbs.
• Val più un cattivo accordo che una buona causa legale.
  • English equivalent: A bad compromise is better than a good lawsuit.

• A ogni uccello il suo nido è bello.
  • Literally: To every bird its nest is beautiful.
  • Meaning: In English, the nearest meaning of this phrase is: “There’s no place like home” – Dorothy’s mantra in The Wizard of Oz. The literal translation from the Italian, however, is rather more poetic: “To every bird, his own nest is beautiful”.
• Acqua passata non macina più.
  • Literally: Past water no longer grinds.
  • Meaning: “It’s water under the bridge” you might say, to indicate that something’s firmly in the past. The Italian version is a bit more complicated: “Water that’s flowed past the mill grinds no more” – in other words, it no longer does a thing.
• O mangiar questa minestra o saltar questa finestra.
  • Literally: Either eat this soup or jump out of this window.
  • Meaning: This is the Italian way of saying “Take it or leave it”. it’s a threat that anyone who’s been served dinner by an Italian nonna might be able to imagine hearing. 
• La gatta frettolosa ha fatto i gattini ciechi.
  • Literally: The hasty cat gave birth to blind kittens.
  • Meaning: Perhaps not the nicest way of saying that things done too quickly tend to turn out badly. An English equivalent might be “Haste makes waste”.
• Tanto va la gatta al lardo che ci lascia lo zampino. 
  • Literally: So much the cat lard that leaves us the paw.
  • Meaning: What is it about Italians and cats? This particular pearl of wisdom translates literally as: “The cat goes so often to the bacon that she loses her paw”. In other words, if you keep on doing the same bad thing over and over again, you’ll get caught.
• Far d’una mosca un elefante.
  • Literally: Make an elephant fly.
  • Meaning: If someone tells you: “Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill” – what he means is that you shouldn’t make a big deal out of a small matter. In Italian, the expression is: “To make an elephant out of a fly”.
• Menare il can per l’aia. 
  • Literally: Lead the can in the farmyard.
  • Meaning: More animals. Italians who say that you’re “leading the dog around the barnyard” are basically telling you not to beat around the bush.
• Oggi in figura, domani in sepoltura.
  • Literally: Today in the picture, tomorrow in burial.
  • Meaning: We all know the English saying: “Here today, gone tomorrow”. Italians, however, are far more explicit: “Today in person, tomorrow in the grave”.
• A chi dai il dito si prende anche il braccio. 
  • Literally: Who you give the finger to also takes the arm.
  • Meaning: “Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile” is a familiar expression used for a person who’s been given something, and then tries to get a whole lot more. In Italy, this kind of thing is viewed rather more personally: “Give them a finger and they’ll take an arm.”
• L’abito non fa il monaco. 
  • Literally: The dress does not make the priest.
  • Meaning: As you might expect, even Italian proverbs aren’t immune from the influence of the Catholic Church . So, while English speakers say: “Clothes don’t make the man,” Italians claim that “The habit doesn’t make the monk”.
• Neanche il cane muove la coda per niente.
  • Literally: Not even the dog moves its tail at all.
  • Meaning: Not to worry, dogs get a look-in too. “Not even a dog wags its tail for nothing”, Italians say, or as we’d put it: “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”. 
• Non tutte le ciambelle riescono col buco.
  • Literally: Not all doughnuts come out with a hole.
  • Meaning: A stoic Italian might tell you: i.e., things don’t always turn out as planned.
• Chi va al mulino si infarina.
  • Literally: Those who go to the mill get floury.
  • Meaning: There’s no exact English equivalent for this phrase, but it expresses the idea that you can’t expect to get involved in risky business without getting your hands dirty: “Those who go to the mill get covered in flour”.
• La mamma dei cretini è sempre incinta.
  • Literally: The mother of fools is always pregnant
  • Meaning: Italians say when they think someone’s a prize idiot. It’s the same idea behind the English expression “There’s one born every minute”, though while we tend to reserve that saying for dupes, the Italian equivalent applies to stupidity of all stripes.
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