Proverbs in Brazilian Portuguese

Each language says things in a different sound and rhythm. It occurred to me this course is designed both to bring the mind to think in this new language and to affirm and encourage a man who is about to to ride his bicycle through Brasil.

1. Antes tarde do que nunca.
Better late than never.

Commentary: clearly the people at Pimsleur wrote this, transplanted this phrase into the reading booklet to provide me with great encouragement as I read these phrases this hazy Sunday morning. They understand how I nearly lost my soul in a strange labyrinth. Hoje e aqui e agora.





2. Longe dos olhos perto do coração.
Far from the eyes, close to the heart.

Commentary: The Pimsleur people wrote this phrase for me perhaps during the early 80s when it was clear I was a rising star in the field of a man's willing himself to something greater.  Also see proverb 16.

3. Deus ajuda quem cedo madruga!
God helps those who wake up early!

  
This was written to indicate the importance of the cyclist's rising early each morning on his voyage. He does this for several reasons: First, it is a counterbalance to the cyclist's potential desire to party too much or to drink too much. Knowing that each morning will arrive at dawn's certainty, he packs his tent and bag and gathers his things. He must rise early to tackle the long climbs as he cannot run out of the day's sunlight because it would mean certain death in the night's roads.

4. Quem não arrisca não petisca.
Who doesn't dare, doesn't catch.



If a man does not risk physical body and risk the painful reshaping of his mind, there will be no creation. There will be nothing. As this phrase Moraline commonly uses: A man gets exactly what he wants, and if he creates nothing, he will have nothing. This means that such a man wants nothing. 

5. Fé em Deus e pé na tábua.
Faith in God and step on the gas.


This is the emblem the touring cyclist wears upon his weary body. Pimsleur crafts each course for the maximim encouragement for a man and his bicycle.

6. O barato sai caro.
Cheap turns out to be expensive.

With panniers, with saddles, with chains and bearings and shoes and jackets. A man is truly rich with a good saddle bag or stem that does not threaten his existence with each descent. 

7. Gosto não se discute.
A taste cannot be argued.

Confer Moraline's "A man gets exactly what he wants."

8. Água mole em pedra dura tanto bate até que fura.
Persistent soft water pierces rocks.

This is what one chants as he climbs a tall mountain. This is what a man chants as he searches for his village.

9. Beleza não põe mesa.
Beauty doesn't set the table.

Yet when beauty does set the table, great happiness.

10. Deus é brasileiro.
God is Brazilian.

A good terrain for the gods.

11. É preciso ver para crer.
To see is to believe.





Deskwriting doesn't get this. Confer Moraline's criticism of the sitting man. 

 12. Um por todos, todos por um.

They may ask: Voce vai sozinho? This shall be my response. 

13. O mundo é dos vivos.
The world belongs to the smart ones.



And the smart ones begin by understanding there is nothing for them to be owned. I will write shortly about the first man who 'had' something. How it led to many things now.


14. Mão fria coração quente.
Cold hand, warm heart.

Severity does not make a man a misanthrope. I have begun to write about the concept of the misanthrope. 

15. Cada louco com sua mania.
Every nut with his mania.







With open arms he is welcomed.  

16. Querer é poder.
To will is to be able to (do).

Away from the albatrosses and into the jungle.