Haitian Proverbs

A few weekends ago my church held its annual missions conference. The pastor who spoke about Haiti shared the following proverbs with us.

• "Behind mountains, more mountains." (Sort of like "Don't be anxious about tomorrow; each day has enough trouble of its own.")
• "An empty sack cannot stand up." (A man with an empty stomach cannot work.)
• "See it or not, your funeral is at 4:00." (From the days when all Haitian funerals were held at 4 p.m., this basically says that everyone will die.)
• "Whatever happens to the turkey could also happen to the chicken."(Just because you're smart doesn't mean you can't do something stupid.)
• "The rock in the river doesn't know the pain of the rock in the sun."
• "A little dog is really brave in front of his master's house."
• "A leaky house can fool the sun, but it can't fool the rain."
• "Women are like mahogany: the older, the better."

And my favorite:

• "If it is God who sends you, He'll pay your expenses."