34 wonderfully wise Jewish sayings

The Jewish people’s wisdom is proverbial itself, their shrewdness is the stuff of legend, and by no mere chance — the ’children of Moses’ gave the world many witty proverbs and sayings that help us understand life better.

1. Life’s not as good with money as it is bad without it.
2. Adam was the first lucky man as he had no mother-in-law.
3. If a problem can be solved with money, then it’s not a problem but a cost.
4. God gave man two ears and one mouth, so listen more and talk less.
5. May God protect you from bad people, and save yourself from good ones!
6. Any Jew knows what’s better.
7. God cannot be everywhere at once, that’s why He created mothers.
8. Be not sweet, or else you’ll be eaten. Be not bitter, or else you’ll be spat out.
9. Fear a goat in front of you, a horse behind you, and a fool all around.
10. A guest and a fish start reeking on the third day.
11. Knowledge does not take much space.
12. Better a Jew without a beard than a beard without a Jew.
13. A man should live at least for curiosity.
14. A deaf man heard a dumb man recount that a blind man saw a lame one run very fast.
15. God protect the poor — at least from expensive sins.
16. If charity was worth nothing, everyone would be philanthropists.
17. When an old maiden marries, she becomes a young wife.
18. Parents teach their children to talk; children teach their parents silence.
19. All people are good from afar.
20. Eggs may be much cleverer than chickens, but they go rotten too quickly.
21. Keeping good silence is harder than talking good.
22. A bad partner is worse than rain — the latter makes you go home, while the former makes you go outside.
23. The world will not disappear because there are many people, but because there are too many non-people.
24. God help me rise to my feet; a fall is what I can do myself.
25. If life doesn’t change for the better, wait, and it will change for the worse.
26. However sweet love may be, you can’t make a stew out of it.
27. When people have nothing to do, they take up great deeds.
28. Choosing between two evils, a pessimist picks both.
29. Everyone complains about a lack of money, but none complain about a lack of brains.
30. Who doesn’t have children brings them up best.
31. It’s better to die of laughter than of fear.
32. Experience is the word people use to call their mistakes.
33. Being gray of hair means you’re simply old, not wise.
34. Growing old, man’s sight worsens, but this allows him to see more.

Preview image credit: Vladimir Lubarov