• an “Ancient Chinese curse”: “May you live in interesting times”
  • Sailing To Byzantium by Robert Silverberg:“He that is in the dance, must needs dance on, though he do but hop”.
  • Asimov: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic…”
  • “Fuck every cause that ends in murder and children crying” — Iain Banks, 1954-2013
  • “Tko se dima ne nadimi, taj se vatre ne nagrije” (eng. to get warm from the fire, you must suffer the smoke.)
  • “Burrasca furiusa prestu passa.” (eng. A furious storm passes quickly.)
  • “Una bedda jurnata nun fa stati.” (eng. One beautiful day doesn't make a summer.)
  • “Medicus curat, natura sanat”. (eng. Doctor fixes, nature heals)
  • “Post nubila Phoebus.” (eng. Sun comes after the rain.)
  • “Svi cvjetovi budućnosti su u sjemenu sadašnjosti.” (eng. All the flowers of the future are in the seed of the present)
  • “Niko ne zna šta se iza brda valja.” (eng. No one knows what rolls behind the mountain)
  • “Šišmiš leti kasno-sutra vrijeme krasno!” (eng. The bat flies late, tomorrow wonderful weather.)
  • “Ne guli kore da ne bude gore!” (eng. Don't peel the bark, it might get worse)
  • “As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
  • Proverbs for weather forecasts in German and Croatian: http://www.crometeo.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8007
  • “Vatra vatru ne žeže.” (eng. fire does not burn fire)
  • “Vjetar kad hoće da prestane onda najvećma duše.” (eng. when the wind wants to stop, it blows the hardest)
  • “Zimnoj vedrini i ljetnoj oblačini nije verovati.” (eng. Blue skies in the winter and clouds in the summer cannot be trusted)
  • “I voda zube ima.” (Water has teeth too)
  • “More nevjerno polje.” (Sea, a treacherous field)
  • “Što više grmi, manje dažda nahodi.” (eng. The more it thunders, the less it rains)
  • “Što leto pocepa, to zima ne okrpi.” (eng. What the summer rips, the winter doesn't fix)
  • “Da nema vjetra, pauci bi nebo premrežili.” (eng. If there was no wind, spiders would cover the sky in their webs)
  • “Što mi je s svijetom, to mi je s cvijetom.” (eng. What happens with my world, happens with my flower)
  • “Kad grmi, svak se sebe boji. ” (eng. When it thunders, everyone is afraid of themselves)
  • Make hay when the sun shines
  • When the summer is winter, and the winter is summer, it is a sorry year.
  • No chicken will fall into a fire the second time
  • Life like a fire begins in smoke and end in ashes
  • It is little use to dig a well after the house has caught fire
  • If the fire does not burn you the smoke will blacken you
  • If you have a head of wax you should not go near the fire
  • Firelight will not let you read fine stories but its warm and you won’t see the dust on the floor
  • No year has two summers
  • Better a small fire that warms than a big fire than burns you
  • Summer will not last forever
  • During the winter eat long fishes, during the summer eat short fishes.
  • When the weather changes, the beast sneezes.
  • When the cat hops around, bad weather is on the way.
  • Furious storm passes quickly
  • A sword in the hands of a drunken slave is less dangerous than science in the hands of the unscrupulous.
  • The nature of rain is always the same but it makes thorns grow in the desert and flowers in the garden
  • Much science, much sorrow. (Ecclesiastes 1:18)
  • Experience is the mother of science
  • We are the authors of our own disasters
  • The past is the future of the present
  • He who foretells the future lies, even if he tells the truth.
  • Whosoever chooses to deny their past can not expect to find a future.
  • Burn your enemies caravan and you burn you future.
  • All flowers of the future are in the seed of the present
  • Tradition must be a springboard to the future, not an easy chair for resting.
  • The future struggles against being mastered.
  • If bees stay at home, rain will soon come, If they flay away, fine will be the day.
  • Bees will not swarm before a storm
  • When ants travel in a straight line, expect rain; when they scatter, expect fair weather.
  • Cats foretell rain by scratching furniture
  • Gulls fly inland when storm coming
  • Horses bray before rain
  • If rooster crows to bed. He'll certainly rise with a watery head
  • If a roster crows during rain it will surely be fine by nightfall
  • Rain makes fish breed
  • Magpies – two for sorrow one for mirth
  • Bees will not swarm before a storm
  • Cats foretell rain by scratching furniture
  • If the rooster crows to bed he'll certainly rise with a watery head.
  • If a flock of black cockatoos appear in dry weather then they should be counted for that is the number of days it will rain.
  • Never comb your hair outside on a windy day. Birds get hairs for nest. Every time the bird moves the hair you will get a headache.
  • No chicken will fall into a fire the second time
  • “Šišmiš leti kasno-sutra vrijeme krasno!” (eng. The bat flies late, tomorrow wonderful weather.)
  • When the forest murmurs and the mountain roars, Then close your windows and shut your doors.
  • When leaves show their undersides, be very sure that rain betides.
  • When leaves fall early, Fall and Winter will be mild; When leaves fall late, Winter will be severe.
  • Flowers bloomin' in late Autumn, A sure sign of a bad Winter comin'.
  • Onion skins very thin, Mild Winter coming in; Onion skins thick and tough, Coming Winter cold and rough.
  • A tough Winter is ahead if: corn husks are thick and tight…apple skins are tough…birds migrate early…berries and nuts are plentiful…bees build their nests high in the trees.

“Indigenous Australians have long held their own seasonal calendars based on the local sequence of natural events. To the right is a map of Australia with hyperlinks to the corresponding seasonal calendars for given regions.” http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/index.shtml

  • The Winter season is depicted by cockatoos, fungi as well as clothes and totems.Bleak mists, freezing winds and rain. Animal breeding – Antechinus, phascogales and echidnas. Laying of eggs by powerful owls. Yellow - tailed Black Cockatoos on the move - tear at wattles for moths. Blooming of fungi and winter orchids. Flowering of heath and correa providing flashes of colour. Return of Aquila constellation (Bunjil). Bands moved to rock shelters in the hills for refuge. Long cloaks were made from possum skins. Old people and pregnant women rubbed emu fat into the skin for protection from the cold. For ornamentation, kangaroo teeth necklaces, hat mats and nose piercing. There were two totems, GAMADJI (Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo) and GRUGIGJ (Sulphur-crested Cockatoo).
  • The sea urchin row is thickest when the red bottle brush is in full bloom
  • When the Easter lilys bloom the crays stop crawling
  • Fish for crabs in months spelt with an R
  • Incy, Wincy spider: 
Incy, Wincy spider climbed up the water spout,
 Down came the raindrops and washed poor spider out,
 Out came the sunshine and dried up all the rain,
 So Incy Wincy spider climbed up the spout again.
  • Doctor Foster: 
Doctor Foster went to Gloucester in a shower of rain,
 He stepped in a puddle right up to his middle
and never went there again.
  • Mulberry bush: 
Here we go round the Mulberry bush
Mulberry bush, Mulberry bush
Here we go round the Mulberry bush
On a cold and frosty morning.
  • I hear thunder: 
I hear thunder, I hear thunder
Hark don’t you? hark don’t you?
Pitter patter raindrops, pitter patter raindrops,
I’m wet through, so are you!
  • I see blue skies, I see blue skies,
Way up high, way up high,
Hurry up the sunshine, hurry up the sunshine,
We’ll soon dry, we’ll soon dry.
  • Rain, rain: 
Rain, rain, go away
 Sun come out so I can play 
Rain, rain go and hide
 Let’s have sunshine countrywide.
  • It’s raining
: It’s raining, it’s pouring
 The old man is snoring 
He went to bed and bump his head
and he couldn’t get up in the morning.
  • The moon and the weather may change together, But a change of the moon, will not change the weather.
  • Evening red and morning grey, two sure signs of one fine day.
  • Dust rising in dry weather is a sign of approaching change.
  • When smoke hovers close to the ground, there will be a weather change.
  • Red sky at night, Sheppard’s delight; Red sky in morning, Sheppard take warning.
  • Much rain in April, Much wind in June
  • A warm April, A cold August
  • Full Moon in April without frost, No frost 'till May's Full Moon.
  • A warm May is the sign of a bad Winter.
  • Thunder in the Fall foretells a cold Winter.
  • Evening red and mornings grey. Are certain signs of a fair day. Heavy dews in hot weather. Foretell fair weather
  • Sound travels far and wide. A strong day well betide
  • Rainbow in the morning. Sailors take warning. Rainbow at night. Sailors delight
  • If the wind before the rain. You soon make sail again. If the rain before the wind. Toples lower and halyards bend
  • How to tell how far away a thunderstorm is – each clap represents a mile.
  • When the sky is full of cliffs and towers the earth's refreshed by frequent showers
  • Rain before seven clear by eleven
  • The evenings red and morning grey. Are tokens of a bonny day
  • If matting on floor shrinks it will be dry. Wet if it expands.
  • Rain before 7 clear before 11
  • The evenings red the mornings grey are tokens of a bonny day

Red glow at dusk is an indication that the next day will be fine and sunny. While red at dawn indicates stormy weather.

Travelling by word of mouth, a variant of Red sky at night was first recorded in Matthew XVI from the Wycliffe Bible in 1395; When it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and louring.

Another version is found in Shakespeare's poem, Venus and Adonis; Like a red morn that ever yet betokened, wreck to the seaman - sorrow to the shepherds.

  • various_aphorisms.txt
  • Last modified: 2014-06-04 05:39
  • by nik