Folk wisdom is the best, and doubly so when you can apply it to sophisticated worlds such as Wall Street and high technology. Rummaging through offerings at a used-book sale recently, I found Yiddish Proverbs: The Essence of Yiddish Wit and Wisdom in Yiddish & English on Facing Pages, edited by Hanan J Ayalti. Here are some words of wit and wisdom, and their applications:
A blinder ferd treft glaykh in grub arayn.
A blind horse makes straight for the pit.
Momentum investor.
A halber emes iz a gantser lign.
Half a truth is a whole lie.
Broker pushing a dot-com stock.
A knoyl hot oykh an ek.
The biggest ball of twine unwinds.
AT&T.
A moshl iz nokh nit keyn raaye.
“For example” is no proof.
Bill Gates testifying.
A sheyne velt, a likhtike velt, nor vi far vemen?
A fair world, a radiant world — but, oh, for whom?
Nasdaq investor after April 2000.
Az di muter shrayt oyfn kind, “Mamzer,” meg men ir gloybn.
When the mother calls her child “bastard,” you can take her word for it.
Mary Meeker downgrading dot-coms.
Az es vert nit besser, vert mimeyle erger.
If things dont get better, depend on it, they will get worse.
Henry Kaffman on the economy.