Thoughtful Thursday: Quotes to live by?

Daily writing prompt
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?

I think of often the old German proverbs that are either ridiculous or are incorrect. Here are 10 German proverbs to get your feet wet.

#1, Verschprechungen uberschneiden sich nie [commitments never conflict]. This is ridiculous, because commitments can conflict consistently if one is out of order in priority.

#2 Lügen haben kurze Beine [lies have short legs] This one makes sense but it makes me thing of All state commercials. I imagine a man with truth on his chest run circles around the little midget with lie written on his chest like a race. Ridiculous as that might be the point is that with a lie you have to keep “changing and evolving” (like the source of this quote), so it’s like having little legs because it doesn’t go very far without more lies. That quote came from a theology major, which never made it into his own chosen profession.

#3 Alte Liebe rostet nicht [old love doesn’t rust] This is ridiculous in a day where people are giving up marriages of 20, 30, 50 years to pursue selfish interests. The age of love doesn’t matter. What matters is unfeigned and genuine love that you exercise towards someone. Almost like metal it has to be polished, covered, and cared for.

#4 Der dümmste Bauer hat die dicksten Kartoffeln [The dumbest farmer has the thickest potatoes] This is so true especially with the rise of bitcoin. The smarter people were trying to build based on mean rising with bitcoin and do the multiple buys of buying low and selling high, but the people who just let their bitcoin sit are now some of the richest in the world. Just like a farmer that lets their potatoes grow for too long.

#5 Der Teufel ist ein Eichhörnchen [The devil is a squirrel] This one includes my favorite word between German and English, because Americans have struggles to pronounce Eichhörnchen and Germans have struggles to pronounce Squirrel. This seems like the walls have ears or gremlins, but in fact it’s murphy’s law… whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Why, German why?!

#6 April, April, der weiß nicht, was er will [April, April, he doesn’t know, what he wants]. In some places it’s April showers bring May flowers, but when the temperature bounces around we say, well that’s the meaning of spring… but in case you didn’t know April identifies as male, because the Germans say so and you can always tell a German, but you can’t tell them much.

#7 Ein Unglück kommt selten allein [A misfortune comes rarely alone] this often has been called when it rains it pours or misery loves company; however, it is ironic how our misrepresentation of the old german proverbs sometimes are truisms as well.

#8 Aufgeschoben ist nicht aufgehoben [rescheduled isn’t resolved]. That’s fun to say (like francisco), and it means if you put something off you aren’t fixing it. This is exactly the opposite of what Buddhists are taught when they learn to glorify sin by the stories of their gods. Their god Krishna is the butter theif, and teaches that if you put someone off enough you don’t have to pay; however, in America as well as europe we need to ensure that delays cost to teach not to say go again and come tomorrow when you have it by you.

#9 Besser stumm als dumm [Better quiet than dumb] this feels self explanatory, but Solomon said “Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise.” And Ben Franklin wrote in Poor Richards Almanac, “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

#10 Aller Dingen haben Eine ende, nur die Wurst hat Zwei [All things have an end, only the sausage has two.] …

What else needs to be said, but if this has a good response I may post more.


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