Postcards

From Heidelberg, famous for its University, the wizdom of ages comes in form of the following two sayings (and one can choose the one he prefers): “Was Du heute kannst besorgen, das verschiebe nicht auf morgen”, that translates into “Don’t leave for tomorrow what you can do today”, and “Was Du heute kannst besorgen, das verschieb’ auf übermorgen”, standing for “What can be done today, leave till the day after tomorrow”.

A nice bit of wizdom has arrived to us from Denver, Colorado: “Tanto va el cántaro al agua hasta que se rompe”, that literally means “The jug goes for water so often that it breaks”, and stands for “All abuse gets stopped at one time or another”.

This wonderful postcard from Finland speaks for itself. Even if not exactly a proverb, the saying on it is quite inspirational: “Arjessakin on taikaa ja kimallusta. On vain katsottava tarpeeksi tarkkaan ja.”, and it can be translated into “There is magic and sparkle in everyday life too. You just have to look closely enough and enjoy every moment”. I think I’ll go get my capuccino.

Now that I have two identical cards from Tampere, the second one arrived with two proverbs, obviously to compensate for the non-proverbized first one. From there we get to know that “Ken kuuseen kurkottaa, se katajaan kapsahtaa” that means “Who reaches for the spruce, falls down onto the juniper”, and “Parempi virsta väärään kuin vaaksa vaaraan” that stands for “Better a verst into the wrong [direction], than a span into danger”. “Verst” is obviously an old Russian measure of distance.

On a card from Alabama here arrived a Creole proverb (are there indeed Creoles in Alabama?): “Tell me whom you love, and I’ll tell you who you are”

On a multi-view card from Lorraine comes a bit of ancient wizdom. Here’s a French version of the Latin saying: “Diviser pour mieux reigner”, meaning “Divide and rule”.

This card arrived without any saying on its back, but we all already know that know “Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam”, or “Carthage, methinks, ought utterly to be destroyed”

A handmade card brings us one more proverb from the country of elks, cranberry, and Finlandia vodka: “Ei nimi miestä pahenna, jos ei mies nimeä”, and it means “Your name won’t make you bad if you won’t make it bad”, which is self-explanatory.

Through the Brandenburger Gate we get an unexpected glimpse of a Japanese saying, 顔で笑って、心で泣く (kao de waratte, kokoro de naku), that means “With a smiling face and a crying heart”. Sounds like a line from bushido to me.

“Camaron que duerme, se lo lleva la corriente”, meaning “A sleeping shrimp gets carried away by the current”, is a Mexican version of the proverb that arrived to my swampy city from the sunny San Diego