| Spanish idioms |
Literal translation |
English equivalent |
Picture representation |
| Arrimar el ascua a su sardina |
to put the coals close to your own sardine |
to look after number one |
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| tener la sarten por el mango |
to hold the frying pan by the handle |
to call the shots, to be in charge |
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| como un tomate |
as red as a tomato |
as red as a beetroot |
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| ir de Guatemala a Guatepeor |
to go from Guatebad to Guateworse |
to jump out of the frying pan into the fire |
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| que da gloria |
that gives glory |
wonderfully, marvellously |
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| Esperar algo como agua de mayo |
to hope for something like rain in may |
to eagerly await something |
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| Pagar el pato |
to pay for the duc |
to carry the can |
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| Poner una pica en Flandes |
To put a pike in Flanders |
To manage to do something, pull something off |
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| Ponerse rojo |
To put on red |
To get sunburned |
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| Poner a alguien como un trapo |
To leave somebody like a rag |
To tear someone to shreds |
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| Sacar fuerzas de flaqueza |
To drag strength out of weakness |
To make a supreme effort |
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| A la vejez, viruelas! |
To old age, smallpox |
Fancy that happening at his age. |
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| Ir sobre ruedas |
To go on wheels |
To go smoothly |
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| Estar como unas castañuelas |
To be like a pair of castanets. |
To be as happy as Larry. |
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| Riendo se va aprendiendo |
Laughing you go along learning |
Humour helps learning |
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| Comer a dos carrillos |
To eat with two cheeks |
To stuff your face |
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| Son como chanchos |
They are like pigs |
They are as thick as thieves |
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| Son lobos de una camada |
They are wolves of one litter |
They are birds of a feather |
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| Empezar la casa por el tejado |
To begin the house with the roof |
To put the cart before the horse |
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| Tonto de capirote |
Idiot chief |
Dope of dopes. Really stupid |
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| Tiene un humor de perros |
He`s in a dog mood |
He`s in a foul mood |
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| Correr como un galgo |
To run like a greyhound |
To run like a gazelle |
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| Acostarse con las gallinas |
To go to bed with the chickens |
To go to bed early |
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| En boca cerrada no entran moscas |
In a closed mouth flies don`t enter. |
Loose talk can get you into trouble. |
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| El hijo de papá |
Daddy`s child |
Rich kid. Kid who has everything provided for them. |
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| Mas loco que una cabra |
Crazier than a she-goat |
Mad as a hatter |
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| Meterse en el sobre |
To put oneself in the envelope |
To hit the sack. To go to bed |
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| Chiste rojo |
Red joke |
Dirty joke |
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| Comer a dos carrillos |
To eat with two cheeks |
To serve two masters. To work for two people. |
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| El vivo retrato de alguien |
The living portrait of someone |
The spitting image of someone |
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| No dar el brazo a torcer |
To not give one`s arm to twist |
To be stubborn |
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| Cortado por la misma tijera |
Cut by the same scissors |
Very similar, chip off the old block |
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| Tener alma a acero |
To have a soul of steel |
To have a heart of stone, to be without feelings |
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| Ser plato de segunda mesa |
To be a plate of a second table |
To feel like a second class citizen |
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| Quemarse las pestañas |
To burn one`s eyelashes |
To burn the midnight oil. To cram |
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| Hijo de la gata, ratones mata |
son of the cat kills rats |
Like father, like son |
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| No van por ahi los tiros |
The shots aren`t going that way |
barking up the wrong tree |
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| Fumarse una clase |
To smoke oneself a class |
To skip a class |
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| Irsele a alguien la lengua |
To make a slip of the tongue |
Speak without thinking |
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| Pon los pies sobre la tierra |
Put your feet on the ground |
Come down to earth |
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| La sopa boba |
Crazy soup |
Life on Easy Street |
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| El dia de arreglo de cuentas |
The day of settling accounts |
Day of reckoning |
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| Llevar en palmas |
To carry with palm trees |
To treat like a king, pamper |
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| Con las manos en la masa |
With the hands in the dough |
Red-handed |
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| Ponerse las botas |
To put one`s boots on |
To make a killing |
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| Huir del fuego y caer en las brasas |
To flee from the fire and fall into the coals |
From the frying pan into the fire |
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| La despidada de soltero |
Sending off of the single man |
Stag party |
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| Darle a uno una buena lejia |
To give someone a good dose of bleach |
To give someone a good scolding |
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| Hacer mil maromas para |
To do a thousand acrobatic tricks in order to |
To go to a lot of trouble to, to spare no effort to |
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| Bajale de crema a tus tacos |
Decrease the cream in your tacos |
Don`t exaggerate |
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| Estar al loro |
To be at the parrot |
To pay attention, be attentive, be up to date |
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| Criado(a) a lo bruto |
raised in a brutish way |
Brought up in a barn |
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| Ser plato de segunda mesa |
To be second-table dish |
To play second fiddle |
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| Jugar con dos barajas |
To play with two decks |
To cheat, act with duplicity |
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| Cantar de plano |
To sing clearly |
To spill the beans |
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| Echar agua al mar |
To throw water into the sea |
To be pointless |
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| Con los brazos cruzados |
With arms crossed |
Twiddling one`s thumbs |
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| Marcando ocupado |
Dialling the busy signal |
Not understanding anything |
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| Encendersele el bombillo |
To have the lightbulb turned on |
To get a brilliant idea |
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| Más feo que el pecado |
Uglier than the sin |
As ugly as sin |
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| Hacer su santa voluntad |
To do one`s holy will |
To do as one pleases |
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| Por los buenas o por las malas |
For the good or the bad |
One way or another |
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| No saber ni papa de |
Not to know even a potato about |
To know nothing about |
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| Caer chuzos de punta |
To rain sharp spears |
To rain cats and dogs |
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| Tragarle a uno la tierra |
To be swallowed by the earth |
To disappear into nowhere |
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| No cerrar la puerta |
To not close the door |
to not cut down on choices/options, or, not to burn one`s bridges |
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| Quedar a la altura de su zapatilla |
To remain at the height of one`s slipper |
To be a failure |
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| Contigo ni a China me voy |
I`m not even going to China with you |
You`re impossible |
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| Andar de Herodes a Pilato |
To walk from Herod to Pilate |
To go from bad to worse |
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| Ser un espantapájaro |
To be a scarecrow |
Ugly as sin |
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| Tener mal templada la guitarra |
To have one's guitar badly tuned. |
To be in a bad mood |
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| Ser del montón |
To be of the heap |
No great shakes, nothing to write home about |
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| Llover sobre mojado |
To rain over the wetness |
It never rains but it pours. |
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| Ser mas del campo que las amapolas |
To be more from the country than the poppies |
To be a hick |
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| Estar entre la espada y la pared |
To be between the sword and the wall |
To be caught between a rock and a hard place |
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| Como pez en el agua |
Like a fish in the sea |
To be in one`s element |
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| Un viento de mil demonios |
A wind of a thousand demons |
A howling gale |
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| Estar de veinticinco alfileres |
To be of twenty-five pins |
To be dressed to kill |
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| Tener angel |
To have an angel |
to have charm, to be charming |
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| Darle perro a uno |
To give someone a dog |
To stand someone up, to break a date |
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| Largar a otro el mochuelo |
To pass the owl on to someone else |
To pass the buck |
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| Dar en un hueso |
To hit a bone |
To hit a snag |
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| Flipar en colores |
To flip colours |
To be totally amazed |
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| Parecerse como dos gotas de agua |
To look like two drops of water |
To look like two peas in a pod |
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| Tener un tornillo flojo |
To have a loose screw |
To be crazy |
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| El mundo es un pañuelo |
The world is a handkerchief |
It`s a small world |
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| Toda va viento en popa |
Everything goes wind at the stern |
All is going well |
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| Dejar a uno en la estacada |
To leave someone in the stockade |
To leave someone in the lurch |
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| No es cosa del otro mundo |
It`s not anything from another world |
It`s nothing to write home about |
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| Decirle a alguien cuatro verdades |
To tell someone four truths |
To give someone a piece of one`s mind |
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| Coger a alguien con las manos en la masa |
To catch someone with his or her hands in the dough |
To catch someone red-handed |
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| Costar un ogo de la cara |
To cost an eye of the face |
To cost an arm and a leg |
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| Aquello fue llegar y besar el santo |
That was arriving and kissing the saint |
It was like taking candy from a baby |
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| Andar pisando huevos |
To walk stepping on eggs |
To tread on thin ice |
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| Venir con músicas |
To come with music |
To tell tall tales |
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| Reir con risa de conejo |
To laugh with the laughter of a rabbit |
To force a laugh |
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| Empezar la casa por el tejado |
To start building the house at the roof |
To put the cart before the horse |
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| Ir al grano |
To go to the seed |
Get to the point |
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| Faltarle a uno un tornillo |
to have a screw missing |
To be nuts |
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| Cortar el bacalao |
To cut the codfish |
To rule the roost |
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| No hay mal que por bien no venga |
There is not badly that by well come not |
Every cloud has a silver lining |
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| Tirar las frutas frescas con las pochas |
Throwing the fresh fruits with the green beans |
To throw the baby out with the bathwater |
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| Nadie esta contento con su suerte |
Nobody is content with his luck |
the grass is always greener on the other side |
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| A lo hecho pecho |
To it fact chest |
It`s no use crying over spilt milk |
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| Mas vale prevenir que curar |
More valuable to prevent than cure |
Better safe than sorry |
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| No hay que vender la piel del oso (antes de cazarlo) |
Don't sell the the bear skin before hunting it |
Don`t count your chickens (before they are hatched) |
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| Una puntada a tiempo ahorra ciento |
A stitch in times saves hundred |
A stitch in time saves nine |
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| Estar hasta en la sopa |
To be even in the soup |
There's no getting away from him |
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| No hay tiempo como el presente |
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There's no time like the present |
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| Caerse de su burro |
To fall from your donkey |
To admit your mistake |
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| Hay cuatro gatos |
There are four cats |
There's hardly anyone |
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| Estar como boca de lobo |
To be like a wolf's mouth |
To be pitch dark |
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| Darle perro a alguien |
To give someone a dog |
To stand someone up (on a date) |
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| Cuando las ranas críen pelo |
When frogs grow hair |
When pigs might fly |
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| No oír ni el vuelo de una mosca |
To not even hear a fly flying |
You could hear a pin drop |
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Mas vale pajaro en mano que ciento volando |
A bird in the hand is more valuable than a hundred flying |
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush |
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| A quien madruga Dios lo ayuda |
To whom rises early God helps him |
It`s the early bird that catches the worm.
Early bed early to rise (makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise) |
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| mas vale mana que fuerza |
more value brain than strength |
brain is better than brawn |
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| No se gano Zamora en una hora |
You don`t win Zamora in an hour
(Zamora is a Spanish town where there was a battle) |
Rome wasn`t built in a day |
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| Ojos que no ven, corazon que no siente |
Eyes that don`t see, heart that doesn`t feel |
out of sight, out of mind |
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Nunca llueve a gusto de todos
or
Lo que a uno cura a otro mata |
It never rains to the liking of all
or
what to one priest another kills |
One man`s meat is another man`s poison |
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| Antes de hablar pensar |
Before speaking think |
Think before you speak |
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| Lo que no cuesta dinero,siempre es bueno |
That which costs nothing, always is good |
The best things in life are free |
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| El que tiene boca se equivoca |
The one that has mouth is mistaken |
We all make mistakes |
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| Lo que siembres cosecharas quien siembra vientos recoge tempestades |
What sowings harvested who sows winds collects storms |
As you sow, so shall you reap |
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| Quien a hierro mata, a hierro muere |
Who to iron kills, to iron dies |
They that live by the sword die by the sword |
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| Aunque la mona se vista de seda mona se queda |
Although the monkey itself monkey silk view remains |
You can`t make a silk purse out of a sow`s ear |
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| Nadie sabe lo que vale el agua hasta que falta |
Nobody knows what is worth the water until he lacks |
You never know what you`ve got till it`s gone |
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| En el peligro se conoce el amigo |
In the danger the friend is known |
A friend in need is a friend indeed |
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| En boca cerrada no entran moscas |
Flies don`t enter a closed mouth |
If you keep your mouth shut, you won`t put your foot in it |
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| lo barato sale caro |
cheap it leaves expensive |
If you buy cheaply, you pay dearly |
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| Al perro que duerme, no lo despiertes |
To the dog that sleeps it do not awake
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Let sleeping dogs lie |
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| la nesesidad hace maestros |
the necessity makes teachers |
necessity is the mother of invention |
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| Loro viejo no aprende a hablar |
Old parrot does not learn to speak |
You can`t teach an old dog new tricks |
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| El que rie ultimo,rie mejor |
He who laughs last, laughs best |
He who laughs last laughs longest |
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| El sapo a la sapa tienela por guapa |
The male toad to the female toad is considered good-looking |
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder |
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| Hablando del rey de Roma - (y el que se asoma) |
Talking of the king of Rome - (and he appears) |
talk of the devil - (and the devil appears) |
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| Mas vale tarde que nunca |
More value late than never |
better late than never |
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| Si quieres ser bien servido, sirvete a ti mismo |
If you want to be well served, serve you to you same |
If you want a thing done well, do it yourself |
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| El tiempo es oro |
Time is gold |
Time is money |
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| Reír con risa de conejo |
To laugh like a rabbit |
To force a laugh |
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