PROVERBS AND SAYINGS OF
THE GREAT DARK HORDE
(compiled from various sources)

"Beye bagator bolbasu nigen uye-in bagator,
Bilig bagator bolbasu tumen uye-in bagator."
------- Injanashi

(One who has a strong body will be a warrior for a generation,
One who has a great wisdom will be a hero for thousands of generations.)

• Tomorrow belongs to me.
• Once sold, always buyable.
• Never count a Hordesman dead until you have seen the body,
  and even then, do not be sure.
• When faced with two choices, always take the third.
• The wolf does not regard the barking dog.
• A snake sheds an old skin but still he does not go skinless.
• Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.
• If a Mongol smiles, look to your lives.
• It is the weak who are cruel; gentleness is to be expected only from the strong.
• The King should be servant to the State.
• If you beat a dog, beware of his master.
• Choose your friends carefully; your enemies will choose you.
• Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
• It's an ill wind that blows no minds.
• That which does not kill me gets dead early.
• The only difference between a hero and a coward, is the direction in which he runs
• Dealing with conflict is sometimes painful and not much fun.
  Not dealing with conflict is always painful and not much fun.
• Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings.
  Rome did it by killing all those who opposed them.
• One can never repay one's debts to one's mother.
• Do not roll up your trousers before you get to the stream.
• The sharper the thorn, the sweeter the rose.
• A halo need drop only 8 inches to become a noose.
• Do not speak to a man's girlchild lest you come bearing a wedding ring.
• Before you make a friend, eat dirt with him.
• Tell the truth to a lord you trust, more truth to a lord you hate.
• Nothing vast ever enters the lives of mortals without a curse.
• Better a dead enemy than a live one.
• When you are an anvil, you must suffer like an anvil;
  when you are a hammer: strike!
• Dogs bark, but the caravan goes on.
• A man who would speak the truth should have one foot in the stirrup.
• Help first, chat later.
• Trust in Tengri, but tie up your yak.
• If you cannot swim, do not go near the water.
• We put a face on God .... not the other way around.
• Every argument is like unto a dagger: two sharp and cutting sides
• Beware not your enemies but your friends
• Never trust a cat to do a dog's job.
• Know where your clothing and weapons are, even in the dark.
• Never trust a dancer, a Mongol or a King.
• Many stones can form an arch, singly none.
• Sorry puts no coins in the purse.
• What you give away with love, you keep.
• Better a calf of one's own than a cow owned by another.
• If you've a knife you've no need for a crown.
• What one man call his natural rights, another man calls treason.
• Honor is it's own reward.
• Two can keep a secret if both wear cords.
  Three can keep a secret if two wear cords and the third is dead.
• If your mouth turns into a knife, it will cut off your lips.
• Let a new wind blow through an old place.
• To speak is to sow and to listen is to reap.
• A life without honor is no life at all.
• If you wear a smile, they think you really know.
• The knife is quiet, the bowstring is quieter.
• Storm in East, sun in Middle.
• Be sure it is your yak first. Then clean the corral.
• Say it loud enough, and often enough,
  and the marketplace will believe anything.
• There always are more liberties to take.
• Dead cha'gua aren't much fun.
• Do not measure a shroud before there is a corpse.
• When all you have is a hammer, all your problems tend to resemble nails.
• Kill once, mourn forever.
• Stretch your feet according to your blanket.
• All that pays for blood, is blood.
• Beware the quiet man.
• Even a highest tree has an axe at its foot.
• The anvil must be patient. Only the hammer can be strong.
• Easier to love a dead hero than a live king.
• Two sisters, two sides.
• The iron suffers, and becomes a sword.
• The skate and the eel do not swim the same, but they both live in the sea.
• Draw close to the Cha'gua around you;
  you never know when a human shield will come in handy.
• Art is inborn, craft outborn.
• Blood is blood no matter who sucks it.
• Fall seven times, stand up eight.
• The vilest creature in the world is a liar.
• The less ability, the greater noise.
• Three steps forward, two steps back.
• An hour makes a difference between the wise man and the fool.
• Drink with Mongols, use a long straw.
• Better a handful of dates, and content with them, than to own
  the Gate of Peacocks and be kicked in the eye by a broody camel.
• Many mothers are best.
• The Hordesman swims in the Kingdoms like a fish in the sea.
• Steel is strong. Flesh is stronger. Will is strongest.
• Many will show you the way once your cart is turned over.
• A good shepherd tells his sheep of green grass, not grey wolves.
• A white ewe may have a black lamb.
• You can call a rock a fish but it still cannot swim.
• A rabbit cannot put its paws on the deer's horns.
• Beware of the Mongol you cannot see.
• Better late in the pan than never in the pot.
• Water weights wood.
• A knife wound heals, a tongue's wound festers.
• To take is not to keep.
• Small keys open big doors.
• A hard head hides a soft tongue.
• Both the hunter and the hunted pray to a god.
• The spider sits in the center of its web and entices the fly to come to it.
• All history begins between a woman's legs.
• Man is wood, woman water.
• To feed an enemy a lie, is just if Justice gains thereby.
• A cat will lie. It is his nature.