Proverbial Auckland

Living Room events
Proverbs

The following proverbs can be found on the pavement along K' Road and Queen Street in the stated locations.

First the man takes a drink. Then the drink takes a drink. Then the drink takes the man.
Japanese proverb
Location - Thirsty Dog Bar (corner Howe Street and K' Road)

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
American proverb
Location - Pleasure Chest (466 K' Road)

Experience is a comb that nature gives us when we are bald.
Chinese proverb
Location - Barbers Shop (459 K' Road)

You can't wake someone who is pretending to be asleep.
Navajo proverb
Location - bus stop on bridge

Autumn steals summer like a thief.
English proverb
Location - bus stop on K' Road bridge

Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanaggaligan ay hindi makakarating sa paronoonan.
A person who does not remember where he comes from will never reach his destination.
Philippine proverb
Location - bus stop on K' Road bridge

Where love fails we espy all faults.
English proverb
Location - bus stop on K' Road bridge

Quand le vi nets tire, il faut le boire.
Once the wine is drawn it must be drunk.
French proverb
Location - Seven Bar (Corner Day Street and K' Road)

Property will not earn life, but life will earn property.
Turkish proverb (on health being more important than wealth).
Location - Doctor (353 K' Road)

Sex is an emotion in motion.
Quotation by Mae West (1893-1980).
Location - Strip club (335 K' Road)

Those who lose dreaming are lost.
Aboriginal proverb
Location - Art Space (corner East and K' Road)

Hano wanekera nkwihumioore.
When you spread it in the sun, it becomes dry.
African proverb (on sharing problems)

Location - African Hair Braiding (290 K' Road)
If you are not a fish, how can you tell if the fish are happy?
Chinese proverb (on experience)
Location - Regent Fisheries (284 K' Road)

What you can do today do not leave for tomorrow.
Croatian proverb
Location - bus stop south side K' Road between Upper Queen Street and Mercury Lane

Vision without an action is a day dream; action without vision is a nightmare.
Japanese proverb
Location - bus stop south side K' Road between Upper Queen Street and Mercury Lane

Setajam-tajam pisau, masih lebih tajam lidah.
No matter how sharp a knife gets, a tongue is even sharper.
Indonesian proverb
Location - Vodafone

A penny saved is a penny earned.
English proverb
Location - Instant Finance

If you have no shame then do whatever you want.
Arabic proverb
Location - Illicit HQ (206 K' Road)

If you lie down with dogs, you'll wake up with fleas.
Proverb (source unknown)
Location - curved seats south side K' Road between Upper Queen Street and Mercury Lane

What the wind brings, the wind will take away.
Persian proverb
Location - 3rd Eye K' Road near St Kevin's Arcade

The reverse side also has a reverse side.
Japanese proverb
Location - St Pierre's Sushi Bar (176 K' Road)

Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Quotation by Ghandi (1869-1948)
Location - Shingaar Gold Jewellers

A book is a garden carried in the pocket.
Chinese proverb
Location - Whitcoulls

Men ken kaien mit fremde tsein.
You can't chew with someone else's teeth.
Yiddish proverb
Location - Gianni Dental surgery (106 K' Road)

Beginning is easy: continuing is hard.
Japanese proverb (on permanence and change)
Location - pedestrian crossing (corner K' Road and Queen Street)

Tout vient à point à qui sait attendre.
All things come to those who wait.
French proverb
Location - pedestrian crossing (corner K' Road and Queen Street)

Taten statt Worte! Or Taten sagen mehr als Worte.
Actions speak louder than words.
German proverb
Location - pedestrian crossing (corner K' Road and Queen Street)

He tini nga whetu e ngaro I te kapua iti.
Many stars cannot be concealed by a small cloud.
Maori proverb
Location - Baptist Tabermacle

De boas intenções està o Inferno cheio.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Portuguese proverb
Location - The Church of the Latter Day Saints

Where there are no tigers a wildcat is very self-important.
Korean proverb
Location - Battu Mae Korean

Affinity is a mysterious thing, but it is spicy.
Japanese proverb
Location - Shochku Japanese (460 Queen Street)

The wages of sin are high (and the hours aren't bad either).
Proverb (source unknown)
Location - The White House (371 Queen Street)

After every darkness is light.
Afghanistani proverb
Location - Salvation Army (369 Queen Street)

You will hate a beautiful song if you sing it often.
Korean proverb
Location - Real Groovy

Ars longa vita brevis.
Art is long, life is short.
Latin proverb
Location - Wallace Arts Trust (305 Queen Street)

The grass is always greener on the other side.
Danish proverb
Location - island for pedestrians on crossing corner Wakefield and Queen Street

Worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it doesn't get you anywhere.
English proverb
Location - Aotea Square

A nation without a language is a nation without a heart.
Welsh proverb
Location - Flight Centre (350 Queen Street)

I can protect myself from my enemies; may God protect me from my friends!
Italian proverb
All the keys in the land do not hang from one girdle.
Scottish Gaelic proverb
Location - bus stop outside the Civic

Ask me what is the greatest thing in the world, I will reply: It is people, it is people, it is people!
Maori proverb
Location - corner Wellesley and Queen Streets

The fault was committed in the bush, but it is now talked about on the highway.
Samoan proverb
Location - corner Wellesley and Queen Streets

There will always be bumps in the smoothest road.
French proverb
Location - corner Wellesley and Queen Streets.

You can't ride in all directions at one time.
Yiddish proverb
Location - corner Wellesley and Queen Streets

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.
Greek proverb
Location - Bank (222 Queen Street)


A closed mind is like a closed book: just a block of wood.
Chinese proverb
Location - Dymocks Bookshop

It's easy to undress the naked.
Russian proverb
Location - Body Shop (225 Queen Street)
All that glitters is not gold.
Latin proverb
Location - Pascoe's (209 Queen Street)

Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.
Indian proverb
Location - Hannah's (200 Queen Street)

S/he sees everyone with one eye.
Armenian proverb
Location - OPSM (185 Queen Street)

A fair exchange is no robbery.
Scottish proverb
Location - Money Exchange (Queen Street)

Help me, so that I can help you, so that we can climb the mountain together.
Greek proverb
Location - Kathmandu (151 Queen Street)

The tui sings, the kaka chatters, the pigeon coos.
Maori proverb (on diversity)
Location - pedestrian crossing Wyndham and Queen Streets

Only one's behaviour makes one a guttersnipe.
Tongan proverb
Location - pedestrian crossing Wyndham and Queen Streets

Stinginess demeans the value of man.
Arabic proverb
Location - in front of ANZ and National Bank (corner Vulcan Lane and Queen Street)

A wise man does not urinate towards the wind.
Latin proverb
Location - bus stop between Vulcan Lane and Fort Street

After dinner sit a while, after supper walk a mile.
English proverb
Location - Andrea Biani Shoes (116 Queen Street)

As the wallet grows so do the needs.
Yiddish proverb
Location - BNZ (175 Queen Street)

If there's no bread, cakes will do.
Spanish proverb
Location - Pandora (75 Queen Street)

An elders advise is like gooseberries; at first sour then sweet.
Malayalan proverb
Location - Lower Queen Street bus stop

Virtue is like a rich stone, it's best plain set.
Quotation by Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Location - Michael Hill (46 Queen Street)

If you stash, you may have something to withdraw.
Filipino proverb
Location - National Bank (45 Queen Street)

Avoid the company of a liar. And if you can't avoid him, don't believe him.
Arabic proverb
Location - pedestrian crossing (Queen Street and Customs Street)

We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love.. and then we return home.
Aboriginal proverb
Location - pedestrian crossing (Queen Street and Customs Street)

It is a big river indeed that cannot be crossed.
Maori proverb (if difficulties are made light of, they will disappear)
Location - pedestrian crossing (Queen Street and Customs Street)

One beetle recognises another.
Irish proverb (meaning like sees like)
Location - pedestrian crossing (Queen Street and Customs Street)