A journey of a thousand miles

 Today is World Poetry Day! The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the first World Poetry Day in 1999, and each year this global celebration serves to recognize the importance of poetry around the world.

One of the UNESCO website's suggestions for how to celebrate World Poetry Day is to learn from the proverbs of your country and discover the poetic teachings of others. At FIUTS workshops on cross-cultural transitions, we often do an activity that uses proverbs to explore aspects of American culture. In honor of World Poetry Day, here are some proverbs provided by a few friends from around the world:

You can’t judge a book by its cover. (USA)

Good medicine tastes bitter. (Chinese)

To begin is easy, to persist is art. (German)

Water does not get bitter without a cause. (Hausa - Nigeria)

Even monkeys fall from trees. (Japanese)

If there's no bread, cakes will do. (Central American)

The clothing does not make the monk. (French)

People Mountain, People Sea. (Chinese)

A bad reputation is worse than bad acts. (Urdu)

Drop by drop, you make a lake. (Turkish)

You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was. (Irish)

You change your place, you change your luck. (Hebrew)

Do you have a favorite proverb (or poem)? Feel free to share it in the comments. Happy World Poetry Day!

The art of poetry is the foundation of diversity, allowing different languages to express their voice among the community of nations. By facilitating dialogue, poetry encourages tolerance and respect; it's the mainstay of oral tradition and, over centuries, can communicate the innermost values of diverse cultures. -UNESCO

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(Thanks to Tülin, Grace, Lexie, Benj, and Monique for sharing some of the proverbs included here!)