One of the more interesting points of Moon Over Morocco is that it is literally packed full of proverbs. So many that I suddenly found myself writing them down so I wouldn’t lose track. So here they all are, reprinted on my ZBS Fanpage, for all to see and reflect on:

"The understanding of an Arab is in his eyes."

"Open up your door to a good day...and prepare yourself for a bad one."

"He who speaks the truth better have one foot in the stirrup."

"Patience is the key of paradise."

"The candle is put into the lantern, and the moth is left outside, fluttering."

"The air of heaven is that which blows between the horse’s ears."

"Allah gives dry beans to eat to him who has no teeth left."

"Without fingers, the hand would be a spoon."

"If a man puts a cord around his neck, God will provide someone to pull it."

"The beard of the guest is in the hands of the owner of the tent."

"The barking of dogs does not hurt the clouds."

"The palm of one’s hand does not eclipse the sun."

"The camel driver has his plans -- and the camel has his."

"If you see him riding on a bamboo cane, say to him: ‘Good health to your horse.'"

"Hearts are depositories of secrets. Lips are their locks and tongues are their keys."

"Unless you open every door -- every door -- it is fear that hides behind all our movements."

"Think of the ‘going out’ before you enter."

"The day has its eyes, the night has its ears."

"The most wonderful thing in the world is the success of a fool and the failure of a wise man."

"Standing in the way of our own light." (not really a proverb, but it sounded like one.)

"A strainer is none the worse for having another hole."

"Take care. The sleep of nonexistence will overtake you at last, for the coming and going of the breath is but the rocking of the cradle."

"He who houses a camel must make his door higher."

"The hand that you cannot bite, kiss."

"A small date stone props up the water jar."

"May Allah protect me from my friends, my enemies I can handle."

"If the light serves to see, it also serves to been seen."

"Push a lucky man into the Nile, and he will come up with a fish in his mouth."

"The dog cannot bite when he has a bone in his mouth."

"Better a handful of dry dates and be content with that than to own the Gate of Peacocks and be kicked in the eye by a broody camel."

"The moon shines in the absence of the sun. Do not strike a rail with your fist, nor mistake the sun for the puff of a candle."

"Catch the halter rope, and it will lead you to the donkey."

"Manage with bread and butter until God brings the jam."

"The dog does not come twice to awake a man."

"The bear knew nine songs, all were on honey."

"Trust in Allah, but tie your camel first."

"If you are an anvil, you will suffer like an anvil. If you are a hammer, you will strike like a hammer."

"An egg cannot break a stone."

"The biggest nuts are those which are empty."

"Let us sit bent but talk straight."

"When the chicken’s feathers are of gold, it isn’t smart to make broth out of the hen."

"A town’s gate can be shut, but a fool’s mouth, never."

"By all means, make friends with a dog, but do not lay aside his stick."

"The fish in the trap will begin to think."

"A smooth lie is better than a distorted truth."

"What you have put into your kettle comes out into your spoon."

"A narrow place is very big for the narrow-minded."

"Kindness can pluck the hairs out of a lion’s mustache."

"The best fighting is against yourself."

"Every sheep hangs by its own leg."

"The tongue has no bone, yet it crushes."

"The heart of a fool is in his mouth. The mouth of a wise man is in his heart."

"If the prayers of dogs were answered, bones would rain from the sky."

"One must not shoot a glass arrow at a painted deer."

"Don’t be deceived by the whiteness of the turban. Soap is bought on credit."

"If a man said to you: 'A dog carried away your ear,' would you go after the dog or search first for your ear?"

"Allah may love a poor man, but not a dirty one."

"Put your dates in the honey pot, but don’t sink it afterwards in the mud of the Nile."

"Better the gurgling of a camel than the prayers of a fish."

"If you make yourself honey, the flies will eat you."

"Often, the best way of giving oneself what one lacks is to take from oneself what one has."

"If the king, at noonday says it is night, behold the stars."

"Every rose has a thorn as its friend."

"To a donkey, one thistle is better than two ass-loads of jewels."

"Every man thinks of his own fleas as gazelles."

"When the crow is your guide, he will lead you to the corpses of dogs."

"Mother a weed, father a weed. Do you expect the daughter to be a saffron root?"

"One cannot hold two watermelons in one hand."

"You can count the number of apples in one tree, but you can never count the number of trees in one apple."

"A camel never sees his own hump,but that of his brother’s is always before his eyes."

"Life is a perpetual drunkenness. The pleasure passes, but the headache remains."

"However high the eye may rise, it will find the eyebrow above it."

"Unhappy is the man who has no nails with which to scratch his head."

"He who eats when he is full dig his grave with his teeth."

"If fate throws a knife at you, there are two ways of catching it: By the blade and by the handle."

"It’s easy to carry on war -- through a spyglass."

"When you have put your head into the mortar, it is useless to dread the sound of the pestle."

"Nourish a vulture and it will pick out your eyes." (coudn't hear this quote at first, found out what it was at the Whirlitzer of Wisdoms)

"Whoever pats scorpions with the hand of compassion gets stung."

"Every lock has an unwraveller in Allah."

"Few desires, happy life."

"There are man who are keys to good and locks to evil."

"O destiny, it pleases you to caress a few -- and molest others."

"A book is like a garden carried in the pocket." (coudn't hear this quote at first, found out what it was at the Whirlitzer of Wisdoms)

"Angels bend down their wings to a seeker of knowledge."

"For the sake of one rose, the gardener becomes the servant of a thousand souls."

"He who touches honey is compelled to lick his fingers."

"The donkey must make itself smelt before we can breathe the perfume of the flowers."

"The dogs may bark, but the caravan passes on."

"A sponge to wipe out the past, a rose to make the presence sweet, and a kiss to salute the future."