An offer of friendship to a friend’s foe is unbecoming an honorable man.

More Icelandic Proverbs

• Faint heart never won fair lady.
• Tell me who you walk with, and I’ll tell you who you are.
• It is better one time to see things than one hundred times to hear about them.
• There are seven different kind of weather in one autumn night.
• You will reach your destination even though you travel slowly.
• Blind is a man without a book.
• Although he comes and cuts me down, I’ll grow next spring.
• Every man is defenseless unless he has a brother or a friend.
• On the ladder to success there is always somebody on the rung above you and who uses your head to steady himself.
• Those who get praised most loudly, disappoint me the most.
• Everyone gets argr as he gets older.
• If the statement applies to you, admit it or do something about it.
• An unlucky girl may make a good woman.
• Politeness costs little but yields much.
• A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.
• It’s better to stand on your own feet than someone else’s.
• One half our fatherlands is the ocean.
• All sails do not suit every ship.
• A bad rower blames his oars.
• There men so poor that the only thing they have is money.
• Strong legs are needed to carry good days.
• All is not gold that glistereth.
• A story is only half told if there is only one side presented.
• The generous and bold have the best lives.
• Pissing in your shoes won’t keep your feet warm for long.
• It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest; Don’t wash your dirty linen in public.
• It is better to suffer in name the truth than being rewarded for lying.