Berber Sayings from Moon Over Morocco

I often find it easier to quote someone than to phrase a concept myself, especially if it's been said particularly well. I find myself quoting Berber Sayings all the time. I thought that it was possible other people might like to use them too, and so I've supplied you with a listing of quotes that may be appropriate in some circumstances. Most of these are from Moon Over Morocco, but there are a few thrown in from other sources as well. I will only mark them as different if they cannot be found in any ZBS peice (I will mark them with a double-asterisk:**). Because this is a work in progress, if you find an error or an important omission, please let me know. I'm sure there are errors here, but I can't catch all of them.

The quotes are in alphabetical order at the moment, for no particular reason other than that they have to be in some order, and alphabetical will do for now.
N.B. - the word 'the' has been ignored if it is the first word. I had too many 't' entries.
N.B. - the sayings from Return to Inverness are in italics.

A

• A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.
• A devil takes one and makes two; a saint take two and makes one.
• A dog on the run can safely be kicked.
• A donkey laden with books is neither an intellectual nor a wise man, for it is said that however much one studies one cannot know without action!
• A good bell is heard far; a bad one still farther.
• A handful of bees is worth more than a sackful of flies.
• All who snore are not asleep.
• Allah gives dried beans to eat to him who has no teeth left.
• Allah may love a poor man, but not a dirty one.
• A narrow place is real big to the narrow-minded.
• An egg cannot break a stone.
• A friend is another self.
• Angels bend down their wings to a seeker of knowledge.
• A pair of women's breasts has more pulling power than a pair of oxen.
• A path and a gateway have no meaning, once the objective is in sight.
• A peacock has too little in its head and too much in its tail.
• A small date stone props up the water jar.
• A sponge to wipe out the past, a rose to make the present sweet, and a kiss to salute the future.
• As the sands of the desert are to the weary traveller, so is too much speech to him who loveth silence.
• A town's gate can be shut; a fool's mouth, never.
• A wise woman is one who has much to say, but remains silent.
• A word before is worth two behind.

B

• (The) barking of dogs does not hurt the clouds.
• (The) biggest nuts are those which are empty.
• (The) bear knew nine songs. All were on honey.
• (The) beard of the guest is in the hands of the owner of the tent.
• (The) best fighting is against yourself.
• (The) best passion is compassion.
• Better a handful of dried dates and content with that than to own the Gate of Peacocks and be kicked in the eye by a broody camel.
• Better the gurgling of a camel than the prayers of a fish.
• Beware: the sleep of nonexistence will overcome you at last. For the coming and going of the breath is but the rocking of the cradle.
• By all means make friends with the dog, but do not lay aside the stick.

C

• (The) camel carries the burden; the dog does the panting.
• (The) camel never sees its own hump, but that of its brothers is always before its eyes.
• (The) cockroach never wins his case when the chicken is the judge.
• Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
• Craft must have clothes, but truth loves to go naked.

D

• (The) dawn does not come twice to awake a man.
• (The) day has its eyes, the night has its ears.
• Death is the black camel that kneels before every door.
• (The) desert is the Garden of Allah, from which the Lord of the faithful removed all superfluous human and animal life, so that there might be one place where He can walk in peace.
• (The) dogs may bark, but the caravan passes on.
• Don't be decieved by the whiteness of the turban; soap is bought on credit.
• Do not search for truth; only cease to hang on to opinions.
• (The) dunghill must make itself smelt before we can breathe the perfume of the flowers.

E

• Even the feeblest knock is heard on Heaven's door.
• Every man thinks of his own fleas as gazelles.
• Every path has a puddle.
• Every road has two directions
• Every rose has a thorn as it's friend.
• Every sheep hangs by his own legs.
• Every vibration awakens all others of a particular pitch.

F

• Few desires, happy life.
• (The) fish in the trap begin to think.
• For the sake of one rose, the gardener becomes the servant of a thousand souls.

G

• Giving advice to a stupid man is like giving salt to a squirrel.
• (The) greater the sinner, the greater the saint.

H

• Haste is from the devil.
• Have faith, though it be only in a stone, and you will recover.
• Hearts are the depositories of secrets. Lips are their locks, and tounges are their keys.
• (The) heart, not the money, is the real force in the medina.**
• He is a good storyteller who can turn men's ears into eyes.
• He gets a double victory who conquors himself.
• He that has no silver in his purse should have silver on his tongue.
• He that knows little often repeats it.
• He who drives an ass must, of necessity, know its wind.
• He who gives fair words feeds you with an empty spoon.
• He who houses a camel must make his door higher.
• He who is a mocker dances without a tamborine.
• He who leaves his house in search of happiness pursues a shadow.
• He who sleeps in a marsh wakes up cousin to the frogs.
• He who speaks the truth better have one foot in the stirrup.
• He who touches honey is compelled to lick his fingers.
• (The) higher the castle, the closer to the lightening.
• Hope is the last thing to die.
• Hot water is no playground for a frog.
• However high the eye may rise it will find the eyebrow above it.

I

• If a man puts a cord around his neck, God will provide someone to pull it.
• If a man said to you, 'A dog carried away your ear' would you go after the dog or search first for your ear?
• If Fate throws a knife at you there are two ways of catching it: by the blade and by the handle.
• If I listen I have the advantage; if I speak, the others have it.
• If it is truth you wish to see, then hold no opinions for or against anything.
• If the King at noonday says it is night, behold the stars.
• If the prayers of dogs were answered, bones would rain from the sky.
• If you are an anvil, you will suffer like an anvil. If you are a hammer, you will strike like a hammer.
• If heaven drops a date, open your mouth.
• If you insist upon telling the truth you had better make it funny, or people will kill you.
• If you make yourself honey, the flies will eat you.
• If you see him riding on a bamboo cane, say to him: 'Good health to your horse.'
• If you want to get honey, you have to be patient when bees start biting you.**
• If your knees are knocking, kneel on them.
• Ignorance is the night of the mind.
• In the desert, one forgets everything, one remembers nothing anymore.
• In the far-off feilds, the cabbages are fine.
• Into a closed mouth no fly can enter.
• It is a brave bird that makes its nest in the cat's ear.
• It is he who eats when he is full digs his grave with his teeth.
• It is no time to bow when the head is off.
• It isn't every kind of wood a whistle can be made from.
• It's easy to carry on war with a spyglass.
• It's like trying to dunk a donut by grasping it by the ears.

J

• (The) jungle will not be without a tiger.

K

• Kindness can pluck the hairs out of a lion's moustache.
• (The) kite flies because of the tail.
• Knowledge is better than wealth: you have to look after wealth, knowledge looks after you.

L

• Let us sit bent but talk straight.
• Life is like a perpetual drunkeness. The pleasure passes, but the headache remains.
• Life is short; we must move verrry slooowly.
• Love, pregancy, and riding upon a camel cannot be hid.

M

• Make do with bread and butter till God brings the jam.
• (The) man who carries a waterskin with holes in it, it leaks down his back.
• (The) more you trample a turd, the broader it grows.
• (The) morning hour has gold in its mouth.
• Mother a weed, father a weed. Do you expect the daughter to be a saffron root?

N

• Never turn your back on a frog.
• Night is the mother of plots.
• No hair so small but has its shadow. (Etiam capilus unus habet umbram suam)
• No land without stones, no meat without bones.
• No one but the one carrying the load knows how much it weighs.
• Nothing's certain but the unforeseen.
• Nurture a vulture and it will pick your eyes out.

O

• O Destiny, it pleases you to caress a few, and molest others.
• One cannot hold two watermelons in one hand.
• One must howl with the wolves.
• One must not shoot a glass arrow into a painted deer.
• One who knows not that the Prince of Darkness is but the other face of the King of Light knows not me.

P

• Pleasant words will draw a snake from its hole.
• Put your dates in the honeypot, but don't sink it afterwards in the mud of the Nile.

Q

R

S

• Seeing blurry is better than being blind.**
• (The) sight of books removes sorrow from the heart.**
• Sin against God is one thing. Sin against man is worse.
• (The) sky trembles and the earth is afraid, and the two eyes are not brothers.
• Some learn through laughter and joy, others learn through pain and suffering.
• Standing in the way of our own light.
• (The) story is only half told when one side tells it.
• (The) sun looks down on many flowers; the flowers see but one sun.

T

• Tell the truth and shame the Devil.
• Ten dervishes can sleep under one blanket, but two kings cannot find room in one empire.
• That the birds of worry are gonna fly over your head, this you can't change. But that they build nests in your hair, this you can duck.
• There are those who are keys to good, and locks to evil.
• There's enough demons in life. Don't invite more.
• Toss the lucky man into the Nile and he will come up with a fish in his mouth.
• Three things cause sorrow to flee: water, green trees and a beautiful face.
• To the dog that has money, men say: 'My Lord Dog.'
• To the donkey, one thistle is worth two assloads of jewels.
• True reality; of this there is no academic proof in the world, for it is hidden and hidden and hidden.
• Trust in Allah, but tie your camel first.

U

• Unhappy is the man who has no nails with which to scratch his head.

V

• Very few berber sayings begin with 'V'

W

• Wake up to a good day and prepare yourself for a bad one.
• (The) wet man fears no rain.
• What you have put into your kettle comes after what's into your spoon.
• When all men say you are an ass, it's time to bray.
• When the chicken's feathers are of gold, it ain't too smart to make broth of the hen.
• When the crow is your guide, he will lead you to the corpses of dogs.
• When Fate arrives, a physician becomes a fool.
• When you put your head into the mortar it is useless to dread the sound of the pestle.
• When you think there is good to be done, then you have evil.
• When you understand that there is no there to go to, then you will stay here.
• When you're deep in water, the best thing to do is shut your mouth.
• Whoever pats scoripions with the hand of compassion gets stung.
• Why keep a dog and bark yourself?
• (The) wind of heaven is that which blows between the horse's ears.
• (The) wise man changes his mind, the fool, never.
• Without fingers, the hand would be a spoon.

X

• Xactly what entry did you expect to find here?

Y

• You can count the number of apples in one tree, but you can never count the number of trees in one apple.
• You can't catch two frogs with one hand.
• You have to calm the surface of the lake to see the bottom.

Z

• Zere is no entry here under ze letter 'z'! (Message by Francois)