مثل الاربعة بنص الجمعة Like Wednesday in the middle of the week.

A Syrian proverb from Arabic Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases: 


مثل الاربعة بنص الجمعة  
(mitl arba'a binuS eljama'a)
Literal meaning: Like Wednesday in the middle of the week.
Meaning: refers to someone who sits around when there is work to be done . I think it's similar to the English idiom "like a bump on a log".  

مفيش حلاوة من غير نار

I found this Lebanese proverb on the Arabic forums on proz.com:

مفيش حلاوة من غير نار
Literal Meaning: You cannot make dessert without fire.
Meaning: You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs

مقدي وخنجرة بحزامة beggars can't be choosers

I found a very interesting thread on wordreference giving Arabic equivalents for the English proverb "beggars can't be choosers". This Iraqi version is my favorite:


  مقدي وخنجرة بحزامة
(muqadi wakhanajara bihazaama)
Literal meaning: a beggar with a dagger in his belt.
Meaning: describes someone who tries to get his own way when he doesn't really have a choice.


Unlike the English proverb, most of  these Arabic proverbs describe behavior: طرّار و يتشرّط (Tarraar wiyitsharraT), "a beggar and he sets conditions" (Saudi);  شحات ونزهي (shaHaat wiyinazee) "a beggar but acting like a rich man." (Egyptian); شحات وعايز رغيف shaHaat wi'aayiz righeef -- a beggar and he wants a (whole) loaf (Egyptian).


I guess it's a universal sentiment

من يقول للصيد فَمَّك ابخر

Another Libyan proverb from kato of http://dormirdebout.wordpress.com:

من يقول للصيد فَمَّك ابخر

(men yaqulu lilSaid famak abkharu)

Literal meaning:Who would tell the lion that his breath stinks?

Meaning: fear of retaliation, nobody wants to confront a tyrant. Kato adds "If this isn’t poignant in contemporary Libya, I don’t know what is"

If you can think of an English equivalent for this proverb, comment below. 

مثل بقارات جحا

Syrian proverb from Arabic Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases:

مثل بقارات جحا
(mitl baqarit jiha) 
Literal meaning: Like Joha's cow
Meaning: Describes something that drags on for a long time, i.e. a lawsuit.


This proverb comes from one of the traditional Arabic stories featuring the folk hero Joha , called Nasreddin in Persian  (read his Wikipedia article here)
These famous stories are a little like Aesop's fables in Western culture. you can read a collection of them in English here.
Jewitt describes the cow story like this in his book Arabic Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases:
" Jiha slaughtered his cow, sold his meat, and received his pay. After a while, he again demanded paymentfrom each purchaser and received it. He kept on doing this until he died."
I'm not sure why the purchases in the story kept giving Joha money, perhaps I need a more complete version of the story.