Proverbs at Internet Archive: Levin

So, the time has come to start writing about books of proverbs at the Internet Archive, because my next Reader's Guide will be a Reader's Guide to Proverbs at the Internet Archive (following the Reader's Guide to African Folktales, which I've completed, and African Diaspora Folktales, which I'm drafting right now). For each of the proverb books, I will include some basic bibliographical information about the book, along with some of my favorite proverbs.

To get things started, here's a book of Jewish proverbs which is delightfully eclectic: Where There's Smoke, There's Salmon: The Book of Jewish Proverbs by Michael Levin.

You will find ancient proverbs here and modern sayings too, each one with an attribution. The book is organized thematically, with a detailed bibliography in the back.

As you can see from the title of the book, many of the modern proverbs are what Wolfgang Mieder has called "anti-proverbs." So, instead of the usual, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." this Jewish anti-proverb is about lox instead: "Where there's smoke, there's salmon."

Here are some of my favorites:

• Be not sweet lest you be swallowed.
• I am very careful in the choice of enemies.
• The world is but a narrow bridge, and the main thing is not to fear.
• Approach a goat from the back, a horse from the front, and a stupid man from no direction whatsoever.
• Do not boast of tomorrow, for you do not know what the day will bring.
• When one spits upwards, it falls down on his own face.
• One should not say with his mouth what he does not mean with his heart.
• Do not throw stones into a well that once gave you its water.
• The angry man fills his mouth with live coals and with needles, sharp and hard.
• There are four types of men: one who says what's mine is mine and what's yours is yours, he is a neutral person; one who says what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine is a fool; one who says what's mine is yours and what's yours is yours is righteous; one who says what's yours is mine and what's mine is mine is evil.
• He who digs a pit will fall in it, and whoever rolls a stone, it will roll back on him.
• Arrogance is a kingdom without a crown.
• Everyone must have two pockets so that he can reach into the one or the other, according to his needs: in his right pocket are to be the words "For my sake was the world created," and in his left, "I am dust and ashes."
• We say to the bee: we want neither your honey nor your sting.
• A schlemiel is a person who always spills his soup; a schlemozzle is the person he spills it on.
• A sated person disdains honey, but to a hungry man anything bitter seems sweet.
• Sugar in the mouth won't help if you're bitter in the heart.
• Drink water from your own well.
• Better a dry crust of bread with peace than a house full of feasting with spite.
• Hunger dominates the world when justice is not tempered with mercy.

Here's one I made into a slide in a World Proverbs slideshow:

There's lots to enjoy here, and the bibliography gives you many leads to follow too.

Where There's Smoke, There's Salmon:

The Book of Jewish Proverbs

by Michael Levin