Polish proverbs
Tens of thousands of Polish proverbs exist, and many come from the Middle Ages. The oldest known Polish proverb dates from 1407. Since then, scholars have studied proverbs (paremiology) and collected them in dictionaries and books from the 17th century onward. In the 19th century, paremiology really began to grow as a field of study.
The biggest and most respected collection of Polish proverbs is edited by Julian Krzyżanowski and was published in the 1960s and 1970s as Nowa księga przysłów polskich (A New Book of Polish Proverbs). It is often called the “bible” of Polish proverbs and, even today, is considered the most complete work in this area.
One of the oldest proverbs, dating to 1407, was written in Latin and Old Polish: "Quando sø lika drø, tunc ea drzi," which translates roughly as "When bast can be torn, then tear it." It means “Make hay while the sun shines” or “Strike while the iron is hot,” and it reflected a peasant practice: harvesting bast in spring to turn into shoes, textiles, and cordage in winter.
Some Polish proverbs came from Latin and other languages. For example, "Oko pańskie konia tuczy" (“The master’s eye fattens the horse”) comes from Latin and may trace back to an even older Persian saying. Others were translated from other European languages. Proverbs have also become famous through Polish literature; for instance, the phrase about the master’s eye is well known partly because it appears in Adam Mickiewicz’s Pan Tadeusz.
Polish proverbs cover many topics. Weather and climate are a favorite subject, with at least 2,000 proverbs about weather alone. They also talk about luck and misfortune, religion, family, everyday life, health, love, money, and women. Some proverbs, like the bast one, give practical advice.
A notable Polish theme is proverbs about Poles and Poland. A famous line from 1562 by Mikołaj Rej says, “Polacy nie gęsi, lecz własny język mają” (“Poles are not geese; they have their own language”), highlighting the importance of the Polish language. Like proverbs in many countries, some Polish proverbs have been criticized as sexist.
The first Polish writer to show real interest in proverbs was the poet Biernat of Lublin, who published a collection in 1522. The first dedicated scholar of Polish proverbs was Salomon Rysiński, who in 1618 published a collection and, in Polish, a 1620 edition that claimed to include more than 1,800 proverbs of Polish origin. In 1632, Grzegorz Knapski published an even larger collection with over 6,000 proverbs. In 1658, Andrzej Maksymilian Fredro released another popular collection.
In the 19th century, Kazimierz Władysław Wóycicki published Przysłowia narodowe, z wyjaśnieniem źródła i sposobu użycia. Oskar Kolberg and Samuel Adalberg also produced important works, with Adalberg’s The Book of Polish Proverbs (1889–1894) containing over 30,000 proverbs and being praised as the first modern and the most extensive work in the field.
The early 20th century saw further study by scholars like Aleksander Brückner and Jan Stanisław Bystroń, who is often called the father of modern Polish paremiology. His 1933 Polish proverbs work helped shape the field. After World War II, Julian Krzyżanowski led major advances with Nowa księga przysłów, published across several volumes between 1969 and 1978. It remains the most comprehensive collection in Poland.
Other notable modern researchers of Polish proverbs include Tomasz Jurasz, Dobrosława Świerczyńska, Katarzyna Kłosińska, Jerzy Bralczyk, and Władysław Kopaliński. From 2009 to 2018, Poland also published 16 collections of proverbs for young readers, though the quality varies.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:41 (CET).