LUCK PROVERBS

New Zealand Tablet, 26 June 1913, Page 61

LUCK PROVERBS

The proverbs on luck are numerous and expressive in all languages. In English w© say, ‘lt is better to * be born lucky than rich.’ The Arabs convey the same idea in the apt proverb, ‘ Throw him into the Nile and he will come up with a fish in. his mouth,’ while the German says, If he flung a penny on the roof a dollar would come back to him.’ A Spanish proverb says, ‘ God send you luck, my son, and little wit will \ serve you. There is a Latin adage, ‘Fortune favors < fools, and it is to this Touchstone alludes in his reply to Jacques, ‘ Call me not a fool till heaven hath sent me fortune.’ The Germans, say, ‘Jack gets on by his stupidity’ and ‘Fortune and women are fond of fools.’ There is also a Latin proverb which shows that the converse of this holds good: ‘ Fortune makes a fool of him whom she too much favors.’ Some unlucky Englishman is responsible for the saying : ‘lf my father had made me a hatter, men would have been born without heads, but this can scarcely be called original, as an unfortunate Arab, ages ago, declared, ‘lf I were to trade in winding sheets, no one would die.’ ' ‘Misfortunes seldom come singly,’ has many equivalents in all languages. The Spaniards say, Welcome, misfortune, if thou comest alone,’ and Whither goest thou, misfortune? To where there is more?’