Arab proverbs

One of last week's lessons from our Arabic class was about Arab proverbs. We went to a website called www.damascus-online.com (great site!) where they have a link with a page of proverbs in both Arabic and English. I really liked this assignment, so I thought I would share some of the proverbs with you. (The meaning to each proverb is in parentheses. To see the proverb in Arabic go to http://www.damascus-online.com/proverbs.htm.)

The camel limped from its split lip (A bad workman blames his tools)
My brother and I against my cousin, My cousin and I against a stranger (Blood is thicker than water)
The son of a duck is a floater (Like father, like son)
A beggar and he bargains! (Beggars cannot be choosers)
With the lack of horses, we saddle the dogs! (There's nothing suitable, so they come with a useless alternative)
He hit me and cried, he raced me to complain! (It's all his fault, yet he pretends to be the victim)
God sends almonds to those without teeth! (Good things sometimes come to those who do not deserve them)
Whoever gets between the onion and its skin will get nothing but its stink (Never get between a man and his wife)
When we decided to trade coffins, people decided not to die! (Murphy's law!)
Let your money be insulted but not yourself (Rather than ask favors, do the thing yourself)

There are a lot of great pictures, songs, etc. on the above website - I hope you visit it and enjoy. Here we are surrounded by twinkling Christmas lights on every house - but more on that later.