Finnish Folk Sayings

You don't get anywhere if you run in your thoughts.

A little bit of experience is better than a barrel full of knowledge.

Even the clock shows the time without knowing anything.

I love others too, but I love myself more.

Your memory can let you down like it did a Finn who was carving a wooden spoon.

You get a lot of these blows, said the busy bee when he flew against a brick wall.

A man is valued by his work, not his words.

If you're short of trouble take a goat!

Wet your finger in tar and soon it is all over you.

Water runs a whole mile downstream easier than an inch upstream.

In sunshine the dust is seen.

The devil dances nowhere as much as between a couple.

You're just like a baby - one never knows what comes and when it comes.

If you have ploughed with oxen, married a widow and never said a bad word - surely you go to heaven.

Other people slept, I was awake; the cat had all the baby's milk.

Elsner, Reijo

Reijo Elsner, born in Helsinki 1942, heard of Gurdjieff and also the Orthodox Way in 1962 and came to London to join the Work in 1967. He moved back to Finland in 1971 and joined the Orthodox Church. In 1990 Elsner moved to Denmark. After a long career in textiles, clothing and furniture industries, he now has set his mind into putting Gurdjieff properly into the internet.

More Reijo Elsner a.k.a. Reijo Oksanen