Pashto Proverbs

پشتو متلونه

Topic: Enmity - دشمني

Were a Pathan not a good hater and an unscrupulous partisan, he would fail in two very marked characteristics of his race. Though all cannot afford the luxury of having a blood feud, still, two cousins, being necessarily rivals, are always at enmity, for a house not divided against itself is a thing unknown. - [S.S. Thorburn., Bannu Our Afghan Frontier]

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• A cousin's tooth breaks on a cousin's
  د تربور غاښ په تربور ماتېږي
  Cousins are generally rivals and enemies
   

• Though your enemy be a rope of reeds, call him a serpent
  دښمن د که د لوخو پړې وي، مار ئي بوله
  That is, do not despise an enemy, be he never so contemptible
   

• Who has fallen from the top of a high mountain recovers;
  Who has fallen from the heart's anguish recovers not.
  راليويدلې د غرو به روغ شي،خو نه روغېږي چې د زړه تر آزار پرېوتې وي
  This is from Mullah Abdul Hameed
   

• A stone will not become soft, nor an enemy or a friend
  کانړې به پوست، او دښمن به دوست نه شي
   

• Whilst he is little, play with him; when grown up, he is a cousin so fight with him.
  چه کم وي، لوبوه ئي، چه لوې شي، نو تربور دې جنګوه ئي
  Father and son often quarrel, the latter wishing the former to give him his share of the inheritance. The story goes, that Khushal Khan Khattak, when in confinement in Hindustan, was offered his liberty by the Emperor Aurangzeb, on a ransom of three thousand rupees, but refused it, saying that, though he would have paid the amount willingly a few years before, his son Bahram was now grown up and conspiring against him. He then repeated the above proverb to the Emperor.
   

• If there were nine, then all nine are my sons; if there was one, one even is bad
  که نه ؤو، نه سره مې ځامن دي... که يو ؤو، يو هم بد دې
  The play of words here, as elsewhere, is lost in the translation. The meaning is, that if a man is not at enmity with you, he is as your son.
   

• Speak good words to an enemy very softly; gradually destroy him root and branch
  بد سړي ته ښې خبرې وايـه پــــه ورو ورو
  بيخ بنياد ئي وباسه له سرايه په ورو ورو
  That is the precept which still guides Pathans in working out revenge or destroying an enemy. The Italians say, "Wait time and place to act thy revenge, for it is never well done in a hurry."
   

• The master's food is being cooked, and the slave-girl's back aches (from spite)
  خواړه د څيښتن پخېږي، او کونه د وينڅي خوږېږي
  That is, the base cannot bear seeing others enjoy what they themselves do not share in.
   

• Kill a snake through an enemy
  مار هم په دښمن وژنه
  If he kills it, you have one enemy the less; if the snake kills him, all the better for you. The Spaniards say, "Draw the snake from its hole by another man's hand."
   

• A Pathan's enmity is like a dung-fire
  د پښتانه بدي د سرې اور دې
  That is, it smoulders and burns for a long time, and is not easily quenched. The Italians say, "Revenge of one hundred years old hath still its sucking teeth."
   

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