Frogs in Popular Culture - Frog Proverbs

Frog Proverbs

• "You can't tell by looking at a frog how high he will jump." - American proverb.
• Vietnamese people have a saying: "Ếch ngồi đáy giếng coi trời bằng vung" ("Sitting at the bottom of wells, frogs think that the sky is as wide as a lid") which ridicules someone who is narrow-knowledged but arrogant. It is similar to the Chinese language sayings "坐井觀天" ("sitting in the well, looking to the sky") and "井底之蛙" ("a frog in a well"). These ancient sayings go back to the Taoist classic Zhuangzi that has a frog living in an abandoned well, who talks about things big and small with the turtle of the Eastern Sea.
• There is even a version in Esperanto: En puto la rano ne scias pri la oceano. ("In the well, the frog does not know about the ocean.")
• "When the snake gets old, the frog gets him by the balls." Iranian proverb.
• "Igual le puedes pedir a un sapo que cante misa." ("You might as well ask a toad to sing the Mass." You are asking for the impossible.) Spanish proverb.