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Bread doesn't go looking for the belly.
Death regards spring as winter.
A drop of water in the eyes of the Tsar costs the country many handkerchiefs.
Dirt isn't fat: wash and it'll come off.
Death is a brother to the Russian soldier.
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There are not as many deaths as there are sorrows.
Mock not the fallen, for slippery is the road ahead of you.
One road for the fugitive and a hundred for the pursuer.
The destitute does not live, but dies by inches.
Death answers before it is asked.
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We do not even get death free of charge, for it costs us our life.
Death carries a fat Tsar on his shoulders as easily as a lean beggar.
If you have the desire, you must also have patience.
Death has no almanack.
Eggs don't teach the hen.
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Forbidden goods find many buyers.
Desire is stronger than bondage.
A once frightened crow is even afraid of a bush.
The soldier will die in the field and the sailor in the sea.
A daughter is a bad asset when the mother is to be wed.
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Trust the river but do not trust the brook.
A fool's country is where his family is.
Custom is stronger than law.
One does not beat the corn on account of the chaff.
Corn rustles less than straw.
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In its own nest even the crow will pick the vulture's eyes.
One door is locked, but another is wide open.
If you drink you die, if you don't drink you die, so it is better to drink.
A spring day feeds the whole year.
Gossip needs no carriage.
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Playthings for the cat, but tears for the mouse.
When death is there, dying is over.
A very good crop is worse than a very bad one.
The road to misfortune is short.
The road to the other world is the same from everywhere.
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Set foot into court and your hand goes into your pocket.
The court is straight but the judge is crooked.
A day is long, but a lifetime is short.
The one driving is like the one riding.
It doesn't cost anything to look.
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If you haven't given your word, restrain yourself if you have, keep it.
A spoken word is silver, silence is gold.
The darkness of night is surer than the light of day.
It doesn't cost anything to ask.
Whoever takes the stick is the corporal.
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Cowards don't play at cards.
Where the road is straight don't look for a short cut.
Every road has two directions.
Where there's counsel, there's also love.
A small dog is a puppy until old age.
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Where there's drinking, there's spilling.
In a storm grass fares better than trees.
Who is not healthy at twenty, wise at thirty, or rich at forty, will never be either.
Happiness is not a horse, you cannot harness it.
Habit is a shirt that we wear till death.
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Habit is second nature.
The right hand itches to get money, the left hand to spend it.
A maiden's heart is a dark forest.
The hands soon forget what the mouth promises.
The harm we do others we easily forget.
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You don't need to have one hundred rubles, if you have one hundred friends.
Ears do not grow higher than the head.
If it were not for fools in this world there would be no reason.
He will be rich for whom the ruble prays.
One cannot grow higher than oneself.
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There is no happiness without jealousy.
Who will hang will never drown.
One can always be healthy so long as one is not ill.
Curly hair, curly thoughts.
Do not enter where your head cannot pass through comfortably.
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It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.
Do not become too hard, lest you get broken.
Long on hair, short on brains.
Even a great river's glory ends at the sea.
A dog is wiser than a woman, he does not bark at his master.
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The head doesn't wait for the tail.
If there are backs, saddles will not be lacking.
Self-interest is a fire which first consumes others and then self.
One who has lost his head doesn't cry about having lost his hair.
A hand that takes never gets tired.
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There is no evil without some good in it.
There are many fathers, but one mother.
Heaven has many cracks through which God can see.
Another's hearth does not spread the same warmth as your own.
Don't look a given horse in the teeth.
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The angry and the weak are their own enemies.
If the horse did not blow on its oats it would swallow a lot of dust.
An old horse won't spoil the furrows.
A hen pecks one grain at a time, and lives with a full stomach.
Only saints may censure others.
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You must be a saint to judge and condemn others.
If heaven rained milk, only the rich would have pitchers to catch it in.
It never goes well when the hen crows.
Your own home-your own jurisdiction.
The heart has no window.
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Let your heart go and it will lead you into slavery.
One need not worry about the fat, but just try to keep alive.
Envy hatches swans from rotten duck eggs.
A horse has four legs and even he stumbles.
Hearts communicate with each other.
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Russian Proverbs (001-100)Russian Proverbs (101-200)Russian Proverbs (201-300)Russian Proverbs (301-400)Russian Proverbs (401-500)Russian Proverbs (501-600)Russian Proverbs (601-700)Russian Proverbs (701-796)
