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English speaking countries | | Date: Centuries-old | Notes: Folk Sayings or Proverbs on Nature, including the Weather and the Four Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter*
A
o After a storm comes a calm.
o After rain comes fair weather.
o All flowers are not in one garden.
o April showers bring May flowers.
o Any man can lose his hat in a fairy wind.
o As mad as a March hare.
o As the day lengthens, the cold strengthens.
o As the tree, so the fruit.
o As welcome as flowers in May.
o Autumn steals summer like a thief.
B
o A big tree attracts the woodsman's ax (Meaning: Those who make themselves seem great will attract bad things).
o Birds of a feather flock together (Meaning: people who are similar to one another tend to stay together).
C
o The calm before the storm.
o A calm sea does not make a skilled sailor (Meaning: calm times do not show anything; it's the tough times that make you what you are).
o Calm weather in June, sets the corn in tune.
o Can't see the forest from the trees (Meaning: you can't see the big picture because of all the details).
o Clouds gather before a storm.
o Cuckoo song is a summer song.
D
o The darkest hours are just before dawn.
o The day has eyes; the night has ears.
o Don't have thy cloak to make when it begins to rain.
E
o Early bird catches the worm.
o Every branch blossoms according to the root from which it sprung.
o Every cloud has a silver lining (Meaning: every negative thing has positive aspects).
o Every garden has some weeds.
o Every mile in winter is two.
o Every rose has its thorn.
o Everything is good in its season.
F
o A fair day in winter is the mother of a storm.
o A fair October and a good blast, will blow the hag and her broom away fast.
o Fine feathers make fine birds..
o The first and last frosts are the worst.
o A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
o A forest is in an acorn.
o The forest is the poor man's overcoat.
o A fog from the sea brings corn to the mills.
o A foul morn may turn to a fair day.
G
o The grass is always greener on the other side.
o Great oaks from little acorns grow (Meaning: Like father, like son).
o Green leaves and brown leaves fall from the same tree (Meaning: no matter of the outside, we are all the same inside).
o Grow where you are planted.
H
o He that plants thorns must never expect to gather roses.
o An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening.
o How's the weather up there? (Meaning: Said to a tall person because of his height).
o However long the day, night must fall.
I
o If there were no clouds, we should not enjoy the sun.
o Into every life a little rain must fall.
o It does not always rain when a pig squeals.
o It's an ill wind that blows no good.
o It's cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey (Meaning: It's very cold out there).
o It's raining cats and dogs (Meaning: Describes heavy rain.).
o It never rains, but it pours.
o It never rains but it pours (Meaning: A disaster seldom comes alone.).
o It takes both rain and sunshine to make rainbows.
L
o A late spring is a great blessing
o Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
o Like water off a duck's back.
o Lose an hour in the morning and you'll be looking for it all day.
M
o A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds.
o May the wind be always on your back.
o The morning sun never lasts a day.
N
o Nature goes her own way.
o Nature is the art of God.
o Never dread the winter till the snow is on the blanket.
o No garden without its weeds.
Q
o A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder.
R
o Rain at seven, fine at eleven.
o Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.
o Rainbow at noon, rain comes soon.
o Red sky at night, shepherd's delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd take warning.
o A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
S
o The sap rises in the spring.
o A single swallow doth not the summer make (Meaning: One spark of hope does not mean all is well.)
o Speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee.
o Spring is in the air.
o Still waters run deep (Meaning: Looks can be deceiving, quite people are often the most deep).
o A storm in a teacup.
o The sun shines for one and all. Or, The sun shines upon all alike.
T
o The forest is the poor man's overcoat.
o There is no rose without a thorn.
o A thorn between two roses.
o A tree is known by its fruit.
o Time and tide waits for no man.
W
o A weed is a plant we've found no use for yet.
o A weed is no more than a flower in disguise.
o "Wisdom comes with winters." [Oscar Wilde]
o A wonder lasts but nine days.
*May include quotes from famous individuals (e.g. Shakespeare)that have become part of the English language. | Contributed by: Image courtesy of The New York Public Library, Digital Gallery #835191
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French speaking countries | | Date: Centuries-old | Notes: French Proverbs or Folk Sayings on Nature and/or the Weather
A
o Autumn is the hush before winter.
C
o in English translation: Christmas on the balcony, Easter with a firebrand in hand.
- Meaning: A warm Christmas means a cold Easter.).
- French original: Noel au balcon, Paques au tison.
I
o The ill year comes in swimming.
o In April, do not shed a single thread; in May, do as you please
- English equivalent: Never cast a clout till May is out.
o in English translation (literally): It is raining ropes or Ropes are falling.
- English equivalent: It's raining cats and dogs.
- French original: Il tombe des cordes.
L
o A late Easter, a long cold spring.
o The leaves fall before the tree dies.
o in English translation: Little rain calms great wind.
- Meaning: Little rain lays great dust.
- French original: Petite pluie abat grand vent.
M
o in English translation: My country -- it is not a country, but winter.
- Meaning No. 1: It feels so cold all the time in my country (Quebec) it feels like there is one season and that one season is winter. Meaning No. 2: My country, Quebec -- the love of my life -- is so cold all the time, that it feels like I'm always in the middle of an (emotional) storm.
P.S. The line was written by the Quebec songwriter, Gilles Vigneault in 1965.
- French original: Mon pays, ce n'est pas un pays, c'est hiver.
O
o One flower will not make a garland.
- English equivalent: One flower does not make a garden.
S
o The sea has an enormous thirst and an insatiable appetite.
o A summer's sun is worth having.
o The sea refuses no river.
o in English translation: The sun shines for everybody.
- French original: Le soleil luit pour tout le monde.
T
o A thorne is only a bench covered with velvet.
W
o Wait until it is night before saying it has been a fine day.
o A wet May was never kind yet.
o in English translation: Windy March and rainy April make May jolly and gracious.
- English equivalent: March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers.
- French original: Mars venteux et avril pluvieux font mai gai et gracieux.
Y
o A year of snow, a year of plenty.
| Contributed by: Image courtesy of The Library of Congress #05221r
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Spanish speaking countries | | Date: Centuries-old | Notes: Spanish Proverbs or Folk Sayings on Nature and/or the Weather
B
o A blustering night, a fair day follows.
D
o in English translation: Dawn doesn't hurry if you get up earlier.
- Spanish original: No por mucho madrugar amaece mas temprano.
E
o Every season brings its own joy.
I
o It's not the temperature, it's the humidity.
R
o in English translation: Raining pitchers-full.
- English equivalent: It's raining cats and dogs.
- Spanish original: Liver a cantaros.
S
o Stars are not seen by sunshine.
o in English translation: The summer does not start with a single swallow.
- Spanish original: Una golondrina no hace verano.
W
o in English translation: When ravens are seen flying low, it is cold for the sake of a prick.
- Meaning: Seeing the ravens fly is a clue for deducing the weather.
- Spanish original: 'Cuando el grajo vuela bajo hace un frio de carajo.
| Contributed by: Image courtesy of The New York Public Library, Digital Gallery #Th-55936
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German speaking countries | | Date: Centuries-old | Notes: German Proverbs, Famous Quotes and Folk Sayings on Nature and/or the Weather
A
o in English translation: As one calls into the forest, so it echoes back.
Equivalent: One reaps what one sows.
B
o A bolt does not always fall when it thunders.
D
o "Disappointments are to the soul what the thunderstorm is to the air." [Fredrich von Schiller]
o A dripping June sets all in tune.
E
o Even autumn still has nice days.
I
o in English translation (literally): If the cock crows on the dung heap, the weather will change or stay the wait it is.
- Meaning: The opinion of loud but insignificant people has no influence on the world.
- German original: Kraht der Hahn auf dem Mist, andert sich's Wetter oder's bleibt wie's ist.
o in English translation: It's pouring as if out of buckets.
- English equivalent: It's raining cats and dogs.
- German original: Es schuttet wie aus Eimern.
M
o in English translation: May makes everything new.
- German original: Alles neu macht der Mai.
o in English translation: The morning hour has gold in the mouth.
- English equivalent: The early bird gets the worm.
N
o in English translation: The night has many eyes.
O
o in English translation: One shouldn't praise the day before the evening.
- Equivalent: Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
o in English translation: One swallow doesn't make summer.
- Meaning: One spark of hope does not mean all is well.
o in English translation: Out of the rain and into the eaves.
- Meaning: Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
S
o in English translation: Snow from yesteryear.
- Meaning: Something belongs to the past.
- German original: Schnee von gestern.
o in English translation: Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
T
o in English translation: There is sunshine after every rainfall.
- English equivalent: Every cloud has a silver lining.
- German original: Auf jeden Regen folgt auch Sonnenschein.
| Contributed by: Image courtesy of The New York Public Library, Digital Gallery #1253680
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