90 Russian Quotes, Sayings, And Proverbs Translated Into English
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Russia is a vast and unique country that is also known as the Russian Federation.
Russia ranks as the largest country in the world. The country covers one-eighth of all inhabited land on the Earth.
Russia has eleven time zones and the borders of the country touch with sixteen nations! The capital of the country is Moscow and it is the largest city in the country. The second-largest city in Russia is Saint Petersburg. The main language of this country is Russian, a Slavic language.
The essence of any language is often found in the way it is spoken. The way the words are pronounced and how it makes you feel leaves an impact on your heart, mind, and soul.
It is said that a language is the roadmap of the culture, and this is so true. Every person involved in learning a new language is already on the path to discover what that culture has to offer.
The cuisines, the traditions, the way we speak, how we dress, the way we talk to our elders, everything is in the language. For example, did you know that "Я люблю тебя" (pronounced "ya lyublyu tyebya") means "I love you" in Russian? This is just one special way of expressing love in the Russian language.
Also, "Удачи!" (pronounced "udachi") is the most common way for Russians to wish someone good luck.
This word means "luck" and is taken from "Желаю тебе удачи" which translates to "I wish you luck". It is the perfect way to wish someone well in Russian.
In language learning, it is often common to end up forgetting words or stumbling upon words you don't yet know about. This can happen to anyone.
You might also feel unaware of some phrases, sayings, and quotes that are pretty common to other speakers of the language. Every language is so vast and so deep that you just cannot learn everything about it all at once.
You will often miss things and end up learning some popular or not-so-popular words or phrases along the way. The answer to this conundrum is simply to read more.
Reading is fun and will help you to learn even more about any language and get better with time. Perhaps you could also practice speaking the language you're trying to learn with a friend?
Here, we have collected some great Russian quotes and sayings. If you want to know some proverbs that are commonly used in the country, you can read these to learn more. All of these Russian sayings are in English translation, making it easy to understand every word.
If you liked reading these interesting and funny Russian quotes, you can also check out another great list of Scots quotes, or German quotes, here on Kidadl.
The Best Russian Proverbs And Sayings
In this section, we have compiled some of the best Russian proverbs and sayings. The proverbs and sayings here are really short and fun for you to read.
As these are old and traditional proverbs they have been passed down over generations of Russians and therefore do not always have a specific source.
However, we love all of these proverbs and would love to provide more detail about where they come from if possible, so if you know where these quotes come from please do get in touch!
1. "If you like to sled, you have to like to drag the sledge."
- Russian proverb.
2. "He who stole (six coins) is hanged. He who stole (fifty coins) is praised."
- Russian proverb.
3. "That's where the dog is buried."
- Russian proverb.
4. "Patience and work will grate anything."
- Russian proverb.
5. "Make a notch on your nose."
- Russian proverb.
6. "It is better to see once than to hear a hundred times."
- Russian proverb.
7. "The first pancake is always a lumpy one."
- Russian proverb.
8. "A bachelor is never sent as a go-between."
- Russian proverb.
9. "They say they milk chickens."
- Russian proverb.
10. "Don’t denounce prison or poverty."
- Russian proverb.
11. "Marry first and love will follow."
- Russian proverb.
12. "A good citizen owes his life to his country."
- Russian proverb.
13. "A balm for the soul."
- Russian proverb.
14. "It will snap where it is thinnest."
- Russian proverb.
15. "Tastes are not argued."
- Russian proverb.
16. "If the claw is stuck, the whole bird is lost."
- Russian proverb.
17. "Shove it under the collar."
- Russian proverb.
18. "From love to hate, a hand [can] reach."
- Russian proverb.
19. "Without a Tsar in the head."
- Russian proverb.
Russian Proverbs About Bravery And Risk-Taking
Risk-taking and bravery go hand in hand. So, here, we have brought together some famous Russian quotes based on being brave and risk-taking for you to read. Let us know which your favorite proverb is from the list.
20. "I ran from the wolf but ran into a bear."
- Russian proverb.
21. "He who doesn’t take risks doesn’t drink champagne."
- Russian proverb.
22. "Ride slower – you will get further."
- Russian proverb.
23. "No pain, no gain."
- Russian proverb.
24. "Without effort, you can't [even] pull a fish out of the pond."
- Russian proverb.
Popular Russian Quotes
In this country, there are so many sayings, so many proverbs, and so many quotes. Here are some of the best ones in English translation.
25. "My uncle, what a worthy man."
- Alexander Pushkin, 'Eugene Onegin', 1833.
26. "I don’t want to study, I want to marry!"
- Denis Fonvizin.
27. "Am I a trembling creature or do I have the right?"
- Fyodor Dostoevsky, 'Crime And Punishment'.
28. "Love is so cruel, you could fall in love with a goat."
- Denis Fonvizin.
29. "Don’t worry, the work will still be waiting for you tomorrow."
- 'Operation Y And Shurik’s Other Adventures', 1965.
More Famous Russian Proverbs
Here you can have fun learning some of the most famous quotes, old and new, about God, the truth, and more. Read on to capture these Russian proverbs in your mind, why not share your favorite proverb with a friend?
30. "God gave, God took back."
- Russian proverb.
31. "Don't go to another monastery with your own rules."
- Russian proverb.
32. "A fool is not afraid to lose his mind."
- Russian proverb.
33. "Tree sticks."
- Russian proverb.
34. "Visiting is good, but home is better."
- Russian proverb.
35. "Truth pricks eyes."
- Russian proverb.
36. "From time to time, it does not happen."
- Russian proverb.
37. "A word spoken is past recalling."
- Russian proverb.
38. "Every joke has an element of truth."
- Russian proverb.
39. "Everything that is a genius is simple."
- Russian proverb.
40. "God does not give horns to an abutting cow."
- Russian proverb.
41. "Ride slower, advance further."
- Russian proverb.
42. "A goose doesn’t befriend a pig."
- Russian proverb.
43. "A drowning man will clutch a straw."
- Russian proverb.
Quotes About The Russian Language And History
Russian is an amazing and interesting language, as any person learning the language will know. You can read these quotes about the Russian language and quotes about old Russian history to find out more about the amazing country. What could be better?
44. "I'm interested in Russian language, culture, history."
- David Remnick.
45. "I'm no linguist, but I have been told that in the Russian language, there isn't even a word for freedom."
- Ronald Reagan.
46. "I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia."
- Woody Allen.
47. "That’s our Russian apathy - not to feel the responsibilities imposed on us by our rights and thus to deny those responsibilities."
- Leo Tolstoy.
48. "Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."
- Winston Churchill.
49. "For us in Russia, communism is a dead dog, while, for many people in the West, it is still a living lion."
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
50. "A Russian man is remarkable for his inclination to spend the last of his savings on different kinds of trinkets, even when his most urgent needs are not satisfied."
- Anton Chekhov.
51. "In Russia, we only had two TV channels. Channel One was propaganda. Channel Two consisted of a KGB officer telling you: Turn back at once to Channel One."
- Yakov Smirnoff.
52. "I played baseball in college, and then I went to Russia to study acting and played some pro ball over there."
- Jon Bernthal.
53. "Russia is tough. The history, the land, the people – brutal."
- Henry Rollins.
54. "Russian may seem narrow-minded, impudent, or even stupid people, but one can only pray for those who are against them."
- Winston Churchill.
55. "Stalin is the most popular figure in all of Russia."
- Vladimir Putin.
56. "For a man whose mother tongue is Russian to speak about political evil is as natural as digestion."
- Joseph Brodsky, 'Nobel Lecture', 1987.
57. "There is the wonderful wealth of the language, which, as a popular tongue, is more flexible, more expressive of thought than any other living tongue I know of."
- Ernst von der Brüggen, 'Russia Of Today', 1904.
58. "... none that burst from the very heart, bubble up and vibrate with life like an aptly uttered Russian saying."
- Nikolai Gogol, 'Poem In Prose', 1835.
59. "They want the Russian language to descend of itself from the clouds, all finished and polished, and settle on their tongue, leaving them nothing to do but open their mouth and stick it out."
- Nikolai Gogol, 'Poem In Prose', 1835.
60. "The Russian language, which is, as far as I can judge, the richest of all the European family, seems admirably adapted to express the most delicate shades of thought."
- Prosper Mérimée.
61. "The Russian language is able to express by means of one pitiless word the idea of a certain widespread defect for which the other three European languages I happen to know to possess no special term."
- Vladimir Nabokov, 'A Definition Of Poshlost'.
62. "It is also capable of saying much in little and saying it with tremendous force.
- W. L. Phelps, 'Essays On Russian Novelists', 1911.
63. "In these days of doubt, in these days of painful brooding over the fate of my country, thou alone art my rod and my staff, O great, mighty, true and free Russian language!"
- Ivan Turgenev, 'The Russian Language', 1882.
64. "If it were not for Russian, how could one keep from despairing at the sight of what is going on at home?"
- Ivan Turgenev, 'The Russian Language', 1882.
65. "I study hard at Russian, which is a tough but most attractive language."
- Bayard Taylor.
66. "I think somebody who speaks the language is going to notice immediately that I'm not Russian."
- Nicholas Lea.
67. "It is absolutely unacceptable to talk to Russia - or anyone for that matter - in the language of ultimatums and coercive measures."
- Sergei Lavrov.
68. "I actually speak fluent English and Spanish and... I dabble in a couple of languages, but I'm not fluent in German, Russian and Arabic."
- Cote de Pablo.
69. "But it is inconceivable that such a language should not belong to great people."
- Ivan Turgenev, 'The Russian Language', 1882.
70. "I didn't choose Russia but Russia chose me."
- Helen Dunmore.
71. "Some imaginative genius came up with the idea of putting on Russian plays with the students to improve their language skills."
- Robert Gottlieb.
72. "I had been fascinated from an early age by the culture, the language, the literature, and the history of the place."
- Helen Dunmore.
'Russian Doll' Quotes
Read these quotes from the Netflix original TV show, 'Russian Doll'.
73. "That’s why therapists are important. Without them, we are very unreliable narrators of our own stories."
- Ruth Brenner, 'Russian Doll'.
74. "It’s my bad attitude that keeps me young."
- Nadia, 'Russian Doll'.
75. "I don’t know what I’m doing."
- Nadia, 'Russian Doll'.
76. "Humanity… a little bit overrated, no?"
- Nadia, 'Russian Doll'.
77. "Hey, bartendress! Hello. Uh, more drunk, please."
- Nadia, 'Russian Doll'.
78. "You’re supposed to ask people about their kids. Okay?"
- Nadia, 'Russian Doll'.
Quotes From Russian Authors
Read and enjoy these quotes from Russians that are found in some great literary works.
79. "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
- Leo Tolstoy, 'Anna Karenina'.
80. "If you look for perfection, you'll never be content."
- Leo Tolstoy, 'Anna Karenina'.
81. "It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness."
- Leo Tolstoy, 'The Kreutzer Sonata'.
82. "There are as many kinds of love as there are hearts."
- Leo Tolstoy, 'Anna Karenina'.
83. "He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun."
- Leo Tolstoy, 'Anna Karenina'.
84. "My dreams, my dreams! What has become of their sweetness? What indeed has become of my youth?"
- Alexander Pushkin, 'Eugene Onegin'.
85. "A word aptly uttered or written cannot be cut away by an axe."
- Nikolai Gogol, 'Dead Souls'.
86. "... depression still kept guard on him, and chased after him like a shadow - or like a faithful wife."
- Alexander Pushkin, 'Eugene Onegin'.
87. "We all come out from Gogol's 'Overcoat'."
- Fyodor Dostoevsky, 'White Nights'.
88. "It was a sad and dismal day today, rainy, without a ray of hope."
- Fyodor Dostoevsky, 'White Nights'.
89. "That's just the aim of civilization: to make everything a source of enjoyment."
- Leo Tolstoy, 'Anna Karenina'.
90. "Nowadays parents are hardly allowed to live, and everything is for the children."
- Leo Tolstoy, 'Anna Karenina'.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for good Russian quotes, quotes about Russian history, and quotes in Russian, then why not take a look at these African quotes or America quotes too?
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A professional content writer hailing from Kolkata, India, with extensive experience in the corporate sector, Writvik Gupta has worked with several reputed companies, including ITC WelcomHotel Jodhpur, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, Aryan Imaging, and Eduquity. He also serves as a consultant for a startup based in Bangalore. With a passion for the outdoors, Writvik enjoys trekking and traveling to remote destinations. He also has a keen interest in exploring various cuisines and regularly volunteers for social causes.
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