Polish Proverbs

Just as an author's books are a key to his or her personality, a people's proverbs are a doorway to its culture's accumulated wisdom. Poles are gregarious, cheerful, hard-working, earnest people -- these qualities are reflected in their proverbs. Many of these proverbs have been in existence for hundreds of years, and reflect, as well, traditional societal arrangements and relations with the natural world. But as much as they are Polish, these proverbs are also universal, each illuminating unchanging aspects of human nature with a few pithy words.