He who knows only few things, has little to forget.

More Icelandic Proverbs

• Hate not the man, but the weakness.
• Pissing in your shoes won’t keep your feet warm for long.
• The twigs are rarely better than the trunk.
• Men do not limp while their legs are the same length.
• Better be alone than in bad company.
• The gift expects another gift in return.
• The revenge that is postponed is not forgotten.
• An offer of friendship to a friend’s foe is unbecoming an honorable man.
• If you get lost in an Icelandic forest, simply stand up and you will find your way.
• Our good life sure is there for us, unless we learned some bad conduct in our home as children.
• She who dances with the chimney sweeper will eventually end up black.
• It is better to suffer in the name of truth than being rewarded for lying.
• It is better to be a master in a cottage than servant in a castle.
• Children generally follow the example of their parents, but imitate their faults more surely than their virtues.
• You do not really know your friends from your enemies until the ice breaks.
• The sun that melts the wox is the same that hardens the mud.
• People come where people are.
• Strike while the iron is hot.
• The sun that melts the wox is the same that hardens the mud.
• A good beginning makes a good ending.
• There are men so poor that the only thing they have is money.
• There are seven different kind of weather in one autumn night.
• If you wish to know what a man is, make him king.
• Cultures are born and die, but the cheese is immortal.
• Children will thrive best on varied diet.
• If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
• Be straightforward in all your dealing and noble with strangers.