Sayingsrefranes
50 sayings
Different from idioms: refranes are whole sentences with a moral. Every Spanish speaker knows hundreds. Drop one at the right moment and you stop sounding like a textbook.
literal: Better late than never.
Doing something late is better than not doing it at all. Used to soften lateness — your own or someone else's.
Register: everyday
literal: For a good listener, few words suffice.
The smart person catches the hint without needing it spelled out. Often used after dropping a hint, almost in warning.
Register: everyday
literal: Flies don't enter a closed mouth.
Sometimes it's better to keep quiet than to speak and regret it. Said as a warning to a friend about to say too much.
Register: everyday
literal: A bird in the hand is worth a hundred flying.
Take the certain small win over the uncertain big one. Argument for not gambling with what you've already secured.
Register: everyday
literal: God helps those who get up early.
The early bird gets the worm. Praise for diligence and early effort. Mildly judgmental when directed at someone late.
Register: everyday
literal: Getting up earlier doesn't make the sun rise sooner.
Hurrying doesn't speed things up. Counter-proverb to 'quien madruga' — rushing through what needs its own time wastes effort.
Register: everyday
literal: Don't look at the teeth of a gifted horse.
Don't criticise something you got for free. Said to someone complaining about a free gift, favour, or windfall.
Register: everyday
literal: Better to prevent than to cure.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Justifies taking a precautionary step ahead of time.
Register: everyday
literal: He who laughs last, laughs best.
Don't celebrate too soon — the final outcome is what counts. Often said after a setback to console oneself or a friend.
Register: everyday
literal: There's no bad thing that doesn't bring good with it.
Every cloud has a silver lining. Said to reframe a setback as an unexpected opening — sometimes with sincerity, sometimes with irony.
Register: everyday
literal: In the blacksmith's house, a wooden knife.
The professional neglects their own specialty at home. The dentist with bad teeth, the chef who eats instant noodles. Affectionate-ironic.
Register: everyday
literal: Tell me who you spend time with and I'll tell you who you are.
You're shaped by the company you keep. Often used as gentle criticism of someone's new circle.
Register: everyday
literal: Lacking bread, cakes will do.
Settle for what's available when the ideal isn't. Said when accepting a substitute with some good grace.
Register: everyday
literal: He who tries to grasp too much, grips little.
Spread yourself too thin and you do nothing well. Said to someone juggling too many projects or commitments.
Register: everyday
literal: From such a stick, such a splinter.
Like father, like son. Used affectionately or pointedly when a child reproduces a parent's trait.
Register: everyday
literal: Speaking of the king of Rome — and through the door he appears.
Speak of the devil. Said the exact moment someone you were talking about arrives or calls.
Register: everyday
literal: Better alone than poorly accompanied.
Being alone beats being with bad company. Used to defend leaving a relationship or skipping a plan.
Register: everyday
literal: Rome wasn't built in a day.
Big things take time. Said to console someone frustrated with slow progress on a long project.
Register: everyday
literal: When the river makes noise, it's carrying water.
Where there's smoke, there's fire. If a rumour persists, there's probably something to it. Often quoted with a knowing tone.
Register: everyday
literal: He who doesn't cry doesn't get fed.
If you don't ask, you don't get. Justification for speaking up, complaining, or pushing for what you need.
Register: everyday
literal: Cleverness is worth more than strength.
Brain beats brawn. Said about solving a problem with technique instead of effort or muscle.
Register: everyday
literal: He who doesn't risk, doesn't win.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Encouragement to take a calculated risk.
Register: everyday
literal: Not all that glitters is gold.
Appearances are misleading. Used as a warning that the shiny option may not be what it seems.
Register: everyday
literal: Everywhere they cook fava beans.
Every place has its problems — don't romanticise somewhere else. Said when someone glorifies another city, job, or relationship.
Register: everyday
literal: To what's done, chest (face it).
What's done is done — face the consequences. Said after a mistake to push toward acceptance and forward motion.
Register: everyday
literal: Where the captain commands, the sailor doesn't.
The boss decides, not the underling. Said with mild resignation when overruled by hierarchy.
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literal: To the enemy who flees, a silver bridge.
If trouble is leaving on its own, help it leave — don't pick a fight you don't need. Often about letting a difficult coworker resign in peace.
Register: everyday
literal: Even if the monkey wears silk, it stays a monkey.
Surface changes don't change what something fundamentally is. Often used sharply about someone trying to seem more refined than they are.
Register: everyday
literal: Eyes that don't see, heart that doesn't feel.
What you don't know can't hurt you. Said to justify deliberate ignorance about a sensitive topic.
Register: everyday
literal: Praying to God and swinging the hammer.
Hope is fine, but do the work. Spanish version of 'God helps those who help themselves'. Useful when someone is passively waiting for things to resolve.
Register: everyday
literal: Year of snows, year of bounty.
A snowy winter forecasts a good harvest. Rural in origin; now used loosely to find optimism in a hard season.
Register: rural / poetic
literal: For good hunger there's no stale bread.
When you really want or need something, you stop being picky. Often used to justify accepting a less-than-ideal option.
Register: everyday
literal: Whoever went to Sevilla lost their seat.
If you leave your spot, don't expect it to still be there when you come back. Most often said playfully when someone reclaims a chair.
Register: everyday
literal: He who keeps pursuing it, gets it.
Persistence wins out. Said as encouragement during a long, frustrating effort.
Register: everyday
literal: Better the known bad than the unknown good.
Familiar trouble beats unfamiliar uncertainty. Often quoted by someone defending NOT changing job, relationship, or city.
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literal: He who sows winds, reaps storms.
Bad behaviour generates worse consequences than it seems to deserve at the time. The harvest is bigger than the seed. Used to predict (or explain) someone's blowback.
Register: everyday
literal: Every pig gets its Saint Martin's Day.
Everyone gets their comeuppance eventually. From the Spanish countryside tradition of slaughtering pigs around November 11 (San Martín). Said with a tone of patient satisfaction about someone's overdue reckoning.
Register: everyday
literal: There is no rose without thorns.
Anything good comes with some kind of difficulty. Used to add context after someone praises something — or to console someone hitting a hard part of a good situation.
Register: everyday
literal: There is no worse deaf person than the one who doesn't want to hear.
The most resistant person is the one who has decided in advance not to listen — facts won't help. Quoted with mild despair about somebody refusing to engage.
Register: everyday
literal: He who gets stung is eating garlic.
If you get offended by a vague comment, you're confessing it applied to you. Used playfully when someone overreacts to an unspecific criticism. The image: garlic makes your mouth burn from the inside.
Register: informal
literal: The devil knows more from being old than from being a devil.
Experience teaches more than cleverness does. Said by (or about) an older person whose wisdom comes from decades of seeing patterns, not from intrinsic intelligence.
Register: everyday
literal: In a muddied river, profit for fishermen.
Chaos creates opportunity for those willing to fish in it. Used cynically about people who profit from political or social turmoil — or strategically about looking for openings during a mess.
Register: everyday
literal: Big problems, big remedies.
Drastic situations call for drastic responses. Justifies an extreme measure by pointing at the extremity of the problem. Often used to defend a controversial decision.
Register: everyday
literal: The habit does not make the monk.
Appearance doesn't determine essence. The traditional clothes/uniform/title doesn't guarantee the role. Said about someone whose surface presentation doesn't match what's underneath.
Register: everyday
literal: To bread, bread; to wine, wine.
Call things by their name; don't use euphemism. The Spanish equivalent of 'call a spade a spade'. Used by someone refusing diplomatic vagueness to name a thing plainly.
Register: everyday
literal: Barking dog, little biter.
The one who makes the most noise is the one least likely to act on it. Said to deflate someone's threats or grand announcements by suggesting they won't follow through.
Register: everyday
literal: There is no bad that lasts a hundred years.
Nothing bad lasts forever. Used to console someone in a long-running difficult phase. The optimistic counterweight to 'lo que no mata, engorda'.
Register: everyday
literal: Water that has passed doesn't move the mill.
Past matters can't change present action; stop dwelling on what's already happened. Used to close a conversation that keeps returning to an old grievance.
Register: everyday
literal: Each madman with his theme.
Everyone has their own obsession; don't try to talk them out of it. Said affectionately about people who fixate on idiosyncratic interests. Also a gentle way to dismiss a tangent.
Register: everyday
literal: He who loves you well will make you cry.
Real love tells you hard truths, even at the cost of making you cry. Justifies a friend's harsh feedback or a parent's strict rule. The corollary of 'no te lo digo por hacerte daño'.
Register: everyday