«Дорогие читатели!» [Dear readers!] Today we are going to talk about «русские пословицы и поговорки» [Russian proverbs and sayings].

Every language has its peculiar turns of the phrase and we cannot hope to know them all–there are many sayings in English that I have never heard–but Russian in particular seems to have some very true, very funny, and very strange proverbs. Today I am going to share some of my favorites, in no particular order.

«Терпи, казак, атаманом будешь.» [Put up with it, Cossak, you’ll get to be the head of your tribe.] I encountered this bit of wisdom in a textbook for Russian language learners and liked it instantly. It taught me the verb «терпеть» [to suffer, endure, forbear]. The English equivalent would be No pain, no gain.

«Тише едешь — дальше будешь.» [The more quietly you go, the further you’ll get.] I also learned this proverb from the aforementioned textbook. I liked it so much that I had it on my door last year at university («конечно, на русском» [of course, in Russian], much to my roommates’ consternation). The English equivalent would be Haste makes waste or Slow and steady wins the race.

«Волков бояться — в лес не ходить.» [If you’re afraid of wolves, don’t go in the woods.] I don’t remember where I first heard this, to be honest. The English version would be If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. But Nothing ventured, nothing gained could also work, no?

«В огороде бузина, а в Киеве дядька.» [There are elderberries in the kitchen garden, and your uncle in Kiev.] This is perhaps my favorite Russian saying, probably because there is a funny story behind it. While reading the book Translating History (written by «Игорь Корчилов» [Igor Korchilov] a simultaneous interpreter for Gorbachev), I found out that this very saying caused a diplomatic scandal. Apparently, a Soviet delegate used this saying at an international conference and the interpreter at this conference was unfamiliar with it, so he translated it into English as, “Something is rotten in the kingdom of Denmark.” The delegate from Denmark then became angry with the Soviets for a perceived slur against Denmark, then the Soviet delegate became angry in return. Luckily the entire thing was sorted out, but the interpreter almost lost his job over this poor translation. In English, this saying most nearly corresponds to comparing apples and oranges.

«Всё хорошо, что хорошо кончается.» [All’s well that ends well.] This is perhaps the only Russian proverb in existence that translates so beautifully into English. It’s interesting that it exists in both languages, but you know what they say: great minds think alike, right?

«Доверяй, но проверяй.» [Trust, but verify.] How could I not include this one? After all, it was a favorite of the late Ronald Reagan, president of the United States during the end of the Cold War. The English equivalent is Better safe than sorry.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I have but barely touched upon the vast number of Russian proverbs and sayings out there, so feel free to add your own in the comments.