• To be able to tie the devil to a pillow / Obstinacy overcomes everything.
• To be a pillar-biter / To be a religious hypocrite.
• To carry fire in one hand and water in the other / To be two-faced and to stir up trouble.
• To bang one's head against a brick wall / To try to achieve the impossible.
• One foot shod, the other bare / Balance is paramount.
• The sow pulls the bung / Negligence will be rewarded with disaster.
• To bell the cat / To be indiscreet about plans that should be secret.
• To be armed to the teeth / To be heavily armed.
• To be an iron-biter / To be boastful or indiscreet.
• One shears sheep, the other shears pigs / One has all the advantages, the other none.
• Shear them but do not skin them / Do not press your advantage too far.
• The herring does not fry here / Things do not go according to plan.
• To fry the whole herring for the sake of the roe / To do too much to achieve a little.
• To get the lid on the head / To end up taking responsibility.
• The herring hangs by its own gills / You must accept responsibility for your own actions.
• There is more in it than an empty herring / There is more to it than meets the eye.
• What can smoke do to iron? / There is no point in trying to change the unchangeable.
• To find the dog in the pot / To arrive too late to prevent trouble.
• To sit between two stools in the ashes / To be indecisive.
• To be a hen feeler / To count one's chickens before they hatch.
• The scissors hang out there / They are liable to cheat you there.
• To always gnaw on a single bone / To continually talk about the same subject.
• It depends on the fall of the cards / It is up to chance.
• The world is turned upside down / Everything is the opposite of what it should be.
• Leave at least one egg in the nest / Always have something in reserve.
• To shit on the world / To despise everything.
• To lead each other by the nose / To fool each other.
• The die is cast / The decision is made.
• Fools get the best cards / Luck can overcome intelligence.
• To look through one's fingers / To be indulgent.
• There hangs the knife / To issue a challenge.
• There stand the wooden shoes / To wait in vain.
• To stick out the broom / To have fun while the master is away.
• To marry under the broomstick / To live together without marrying.
• To have the roof tiled with tarts / To be very wealthy.
• To have a hole in one's roof / To be unintelligent.
• An old roof needs a lot of patching up / Old things need more maintenance.
• The roof has lathes / There could be eavesdroppers (The walls have ears).
• To have toothache behind the ears / To be a malingerer.
• To be pissing against the moon / To waste one's time on a futile endeavour.
• Here hangs the pot / It is the opposite of what it should be.
• To shoot a second bolt to find the first / To repeat a foolish action.
• To shave the fool without lather / To trick somebody.
• Two fools under one hood / Stupidity loves company.
• It grows out of the window / It cannot be concealed.
• To play on the pillory / To attract attention to one's shameful acts.
• Where the gate is open the pigs will run into the corn / Disaster ensues from carelessness.
• Where the corn decreases the pig increases / If one person gains then another must lose.
• To run like one's backside is on fire / To be in great distress.
• He who eats fire, shits sparks / Do not be surprised at the outcome if you attempt a dangerous venture.
• To hang one's cloak according to the wind / To adapt one's viewpoint to the current opinion.
• To toss feathers in the wind / To work fruitlessly.
• To gaze at the stork / To waste one's time.
• To want to kill two flies with one stroke / To be efficient.
• To fall from the ox onto the ass / To fall on hard times.
• To kiss the ring of the door / To be insincere.
• To wipe one's backside on the door / To treat something lightly.
• To go around shouldering a burden / To imagine that things are worse than they are.
• To fish behind the net / To miss an opportunity.
• Big fish eat little fish.
• To be unable to see the sun shine on the water / To be jealous of another's success.
• It hangs like a privy over a ditch / It is obvious.
• Anybody can see through an oak plank if there is a hole in it / There is no point in stating the obvious.
• They both shit through the same hole / They are in agreement.
• To throw one's money into the water / To waste one's money.
• A wall with cracks will soon collapse / Anything poorly managed will soon fail.
• To not care whose house is on fire as long as one can warm oneself at the blaze / To take every opportunity regardless of the consequences to others.
• To drag the block / To be deceived by a lover or to work at a pointless task.
• Fear makes the old woman trot / An unexpected event can reveal unknown qualities.
• Horse droppings are not figs / Do not be fooled by appearances.
• If the blind lead the blind both will fall in the ditch / There is no point in being guided by others who are equally ignorant.
• The journey is not yet over when one can discern the church and steeple / Do not give up until the task is fully complete.
• Everything, however finely spun, finally comes to the sun / Nothing can be hidden forever.
• To keep one's eye on the sail / To stay alert, be wary.
• To shit on the gallows / To be undeterred by any penalty.
• Where the carcass is, there fly the crows / If the evidence points to something it is likely to be true.
• It is easy to sail before the wind / If conditions are favourable it is not difficult to achieve one's goal.
• Who knows why geese go barefoot? / There is a reason for everything, though it may not be obvious.
• If I am not meant to be their keeper, I will let geese be geese / Do not interfere in matters that are not your concern.
• To see bears dancing / To be starving.
• Wild bears prefer each other's company / Peers get along better with each other than with outsiders.
• To throw one's cowl over the fence / To discard something without knowing whether it will be required later.
• It is ill to swim against the stream / It is difficult to oppose the general opinion.
• The pitcher goes to the water until it finally breaks / Everything has its limitations.
• The best straps are cut from somebody else's leather / Men cut the largest straps from other men's leather/It is easy to take from others work.
• To hold an eel by the tail / To undertake a difficult task.
• To fall through the basket / To have your deception uncovered.
• To be suspended between heaven and earth / To be in an awkward situation.
• To take the hen's egg and let the goose's egg go / To make a bad decision.
• To yawn against the oven / To attempt more than one can manage.
• To be barely able to reach from one loaf to another / To have difficulty living within budget.
• A hoe without a handle / Something useless.
• To look for the hatchet / To try to find an excuse.
• Here he is with his lantern / To finally have an opportunity to show a talent.
• A hatchet with a handle / Signifies "the whole thing".
• He who has spilt his porridge cannot scrape it all up again / Once something is done it cannot be undone.
• To put a spoke in someone's wheel / To put up an obstacle, to destroy someone's plans.
• Love is on the side where the money bag hangs / Love can be bought.
• To pull to get the longest end / To attempt to get the advantage.
• To stand in one's own light / To be proud of oneself.
• No one looks for others in the oven who has not been in there himself / To imagine wickedness in others is a sign of wickedness in oneself.
• To have the world spinning on one's thumb / To have every advantage.
• To tie a flaxen beard to the face of Christ / To hide deceit under a veneer of Christian piety.
• To have to stoop to get on in the world / To succeed one must be devious.
• To cast roses before swine To waste effort on the unworthy.
• To fill the well after the calf has drowned / To take action only after a disaster.
• To be as patient as a lamb / To be very patient.
• She puts the blue cloak on her husband / She deceives him.
• Watch out that a black dog does not come in between / When two women are together a barking dog is not needed to add to the trouble they will cause.
• One winds on the distaff what the other spins / Both spread gossip.
• To carry the day out in baskets / To waste one's time.
• To hold a candle to the Devil / To flatter and make friends indiscriminately.
• To confess to the Devil / To reveal secrets to one's enemy.
• The pig is stabbed through the belly / A foregone conclusion or what is done can not be undone.
• Two dogs over one bone seldom agree / To argue over a single point.
• To be a skimming ladle / To be a parasite or sponger.
• What is the good of a beautiful plate when there is nothing on it? / Beauty does not make up for substance.
• The fox and the crane entertain each other / Two deceivers always keep their own advantage in mind.
• To blow in the ear / To spread gossip.
• To chalk up / To make sure to remember.
• The meat on the spit must be basted / Certain things need constant attention.
• There is no turning the spit with him / He is uncooperative.
• To sit on hot coals / To be impatient.
• To catch fish without a net / To profit from the work of others.