A beer thinker’s guide to life

Proverbs from around the world, found in the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs; Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher; Yiddish Proverbs by Hanan J. Ayalti; and various compendia on the web

He who drinks beer, thinks beer.
American (attributed to Washington Irving) and Danish

Barley isn’t grown for donkeys.
Czech

If you do not have patience you cannot make beer.
Ovambo

Young sugarcane gives no beer.
Kikuyu

A fine beer may be judged with one sip, but it’s better to be thoroughly sure.
Czech

Froth is no beer.
Dutch

Drunks are like beer: a lot of foam but little strength.
Spanish

Better weak beer than an empty cask.
Danish

It never rains in the brew hall.
German

Where beer is brewed, they have it good.
Czech

One mouth doesn’t taste the beer.
Lamba

When the bee comes to your house, let her have beer. You many want to visit the bee’s house someday.
Congolese

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
American (sometimes attributed to George Carlin)

Ale sellers should not be tale tellers.
Scottish

A house full of daughters is a cellar full of sour beer.
Dutch (sour beer—lambic—is highly desirable for blending with other beers in Dutch-speaking parts of Belgium)

The innkeeper loves the drunkard, but not for a son-in-law.
Yiddish

Caution is the parent of delicate beer glasses.
Dutch

The beer is difficult to strain.
Anyuak (explanation here)

The best brewer sometimes makes bad beer.
German

That beer’s of your own brewing, and you must drink it.
Dutch and Czech

Beer may warm you up, but it doesn’t dress you.
Czech

Life is more than beer and skittles.
English

Milk for a child, meat for an adult, beer for the old.
Welsh

Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish.
Proverbs 31:6 (New International Version)

There are more old drunks than old doctors.
American

He that buys land buys many stones,
He that buys flesh buys many bones,
He that buys eggs buys many shells,
But he who buys good ale buys nothing else.
English

Beautiful beer can come from an ugly barrel.
Czech

Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
American

The rabbi drains the bottle and tells others to be merry.
Yiddish

Turkey, heresy, hops and beer
came into England all in one year.
English

Man’s way to God is with beer in hand.
Kofyar

The mouth of a perfectly happy man is filled with beer.
Ancient Egyptian

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If you know of additional proverbs that belong in this list, please leave them in the comments. I’m not so much interested in sayings about beer as in sayings that use beer or brewing to illuminate life. I’m sure that Africa is especially rich in such proverbs, but I haven’t been able to find very many on the internet.