ProverbPedia

“ സ്ഥാനംവിറ്റു ചക്കരതിന്നുക”
English Translation:
Selling off one’s honorable position just to gorge on sweet jaggery. (Surrendering enduring rank, heritage, and dignity for fleeting sensory gratification.)

“ സ്വകാൎയ്യം തിന്നാൽ സൂകരം”
English Translation:
Devouring food solely for one’s own selfish gratification makes one a swine. (Selfish greed devoid of charity, sharing, or hospitality degrades human character to the level of a beast.)

“ സ്വരം നല്ലപ്പോഴെ പാട്ടു നിൎത്തികളയണം”
English Translation:
Conclude the song while the singing voice is still sweet. (Quit while you are ahead; depart from public office or the stage at the peak of glory before decline sets in.)

“ സ്വരമുള്ളപ്പോൾ താളംവരാ, താളമുള്ളപ്പോൾ സ്വരംവരാ”
English Translation:
When melody flows, rhythm is lost; when rhythm is kept, melody fails. (Frustrating disharmony and lack of coordination; vital complementary talents failing to unite effectively.)

“ സ്വാമിദ്രൊഹി വീട്ടിനു പഞ്ചമഹാപാതകങ്ങൾ വാതിൽ”
English Translation:
For the house of the traitor who betrays his master, the five mortal sins stand as the doorway. (Treachery against one’s benefactor is the ultimate moral transgression, opening the entrance to every conceivable curse and ruin.)

“ ഹിരണ്യനാട്ടിൽ ചെന്നാൽ ഹിരണ്യായനമഃ”
English Translation:
When you arrive in the kingdom of Hiranya, chant “Salutations to Hiranya!” (When in Rome, do as the Romans do; adapt to prevailing authority and conform to local customs for safety, however tyrannical they may be.)

“ സാക്ഷിയുടെ കാലുപിടിക്കുന്നതിനേക്കാൾ ശത്രുവിന്റെ കാലു പിടിക്കുന്നതു നല്ലതു”
English Translation:
Better to clasp the feet of your enemy than to fall at the feet of an unreliable witness. (Direct reconciliation with an open adversary is far safer and more dignified than placing your fate in the hands of a treacherous, bribable intermediary.)

“ സേവമുഴുത്തിട്ടു കണ്ടി ഇറങ്ങിക്കൂടാ”
English Translation:
Entangled too deeply in sycophancy, one cannot even step down onto the field path. (Total subservience and fawning loyalty to a master cost an individual their fundamental freedom and dignity.)

“ സർവാധിയുടെ ഈടും വിറകുവെട്ടിയുടെ പുലർച്ചയും”
English Translation:
The heavy security pledged by the high chancellor, and the daily daybreak of the poor woodcutter. (A sharp contrast between monumental, unshakeable state guarantees and the precarious, hand-to-mouth survival of the humble laborer.)

“ സ്ഥാനത്തെളിയൊൻ കോണത്തിരിക്കണം”
English Translation:
One who is humble in rank should sit quietly in the corner. (Know your place; prudence and modesty demand that one lacking clout avoid pushing to the forefront.)

“ സാധനദൂഷ്യം അകൗശല ലക്ഷണം”
English Translation:
Blaming the tool is the unmistakable mark of incompetence. (A bad workman always blames his tools; lack of skill seeks excuses in external instruments.)

“ സാരം അറിയുന്നവൻ സർവ്വജ്ഞ�”
English Translation:
He who understands the core essence is the truly all-knowing. (True mastery lies not in accumulating heaps of superficial trivia, but in grasping the fundamental truth of things.)

“ സാള(മം) വരുമ്പോൾ സ്വരവരാ, സ്വരവരുമ്പോൾ സാള(മം)വരാ, രണ്ടുംകൂടിവരുമ്പോൾ അവസരവരാ”
English Translation:
When rhythm is present, melody is absent; when melody is present, rhythm is absent; and when both finally align, the opportunity is gone. (The tragic comedy of chronic bad timing; essential complementary elements rarely coincide while the window of opportunity is open.)

“ സുഖത്തിൽ പിന്നെ ദു:ഖം; ദു:ഖത്തിൽ പിന്നെ സുഖം”
English Translation:
After joy follows sorrow; after sorrow follows joy. (The eternal cycle of life; pleasure and pain perpetually alternate, and neither condition lasts forever.)

“ സുഖദുഖാദികൾ വെള്ളത്തിൽഇട്ട ഉതളങ്ങ പോലെ”
English Translation:
Joys and sorrows are like an odollam fruit bobbing upon water. (Fortunes rise and sink incessantly with the shifting swells of circumstance; worldly states are fluid and unstable.)

“ സാമം = താളം”
English Translation:
[Linguistic/textual gloss from source text: Clarifies that “Samam” denotes musical rhythm or tempo (“Thalam”), glossing proverb #2436.]