# Nobody owns a proverb, but a translation does

> Proverbs are repeated until they're true, a stronger claim to authority than a quotation. A specific translation of one, though, is somebody's own copyrighted work.

August 19, 2026 · https://justog.club/stories/translated-proverb-shirt

Three lines in a clean serif, the letterforms pale and slightly rough at the edges, as though
sandblasted into the surface of glass rather than printed on it. SLOWLY, SLOWLY, THE EGG WALKS.

Nobody wrote that. Everybody who ever said it wrote it a little.

## What makes a proverb different from a quotation?

A quotation belongs to whoever said it. A proverb belongs to nobody, because nobody said it first.

Every quotable line traces back to one person in one moment, which is exactly what makes it
contestable — did they really say it, did they mean it that way, is the attribution even correct. A
proverb has no such moment to check. It arrived by being repeated by enough people, in enough
kitchens and fields and arguments, that the wording settled into something durable without anyone
deciding it on purpose. That's a stranger, and in its own way a stronger, claim to authority than a
famous name attached to a sentence — a proverb can't be accused of being taken out of context,
because it was never in one to begin with.

## Why does a proverb read strangely once it's translated, and why does that work?

Because the image survives the translation and the idiom underneath it doesn't.

"Slowly, slowly, the egg walks" is a patience proverb from a language where the phrase is completely
ordinary — but rendered word for word into English, the picture of a walking egg arrives with none of
the familiarity that made it unremarkable at home. What's left is the image alone, stripped of the
automatic recognition a native speaker would have, which is exactly what makes it feel found rather
than composed. A line invented from scratch to sound like a proverb rarely manages this; the slight
foreignness is doing work that intention can't fake.

## Which proverb should I actually use?

One from a language you or your family genuinely speak — not one pulled from a list of "proverbs
from around the world" with no connection to anybody involved.

A proverb carries a place and a history with it, and using one that's actually yours to draw on — a
grandparent's language, a household's second tongue, a country you have a real claim on — is the
difference between an inheritance and a souvenir.

### The practical rule

Somebody who actually speaks the language has to have read the exact wording before it goes anywhere
near a print file, the same way [a borrowed script of any kind needs a fluent
check](/stories/bilingual-text-on-a-shirt) before it's cut into anything permanent. A proverb
that's subtly wrong in translation doesn't read as wrong — it reads as somebody else's language
handled carelessly, which is worse.

## What about rights?

The proverb itself is common property — nobody owns "slowly, slowly, the egg walks," in the original
or in English.

The specific translation, though, is a different object. Render an old proverb into English yourself,
working from someone who speaks the source language, and what you've made is your own plain rendering
of common property. Lift a polished, particular English wording from a published book of proverbs by
a named translator, and that specific sentence — the exact word choices, the rhythm, the punctuation —
is that translator's copyrighted work, even though the proverb underneath it belongs to nobody. The
saying is free. A specific, published sentence built to carry it is somebody's labour.

## Does this still work with a language nobody in the room speaks?

It works less well, and that's worth being honest about rather than working around.

The whole appeal depends on the proverb being checked and understood by somebody with a real
connection to it — without that, what's left is a decorative fragment of a language used for its
look rather than its meaning, a noticeably weaker object. A proverb from a language nobody present
speaks isn't off limits; it just needs the same check from someone outside the room who does, rather
than skipping the step because nobody present would catch the error either way.

## Isn't a proverb with no name attached a strange thing to print, next to a real quotation?

The absence of a name is the point, not a gap where one should be.

A quotation asks the reader to trust a person; a proverb asks the reader to trust that it survived —
that it was said often enough, by enough people, in enough situations, to still be true generations
later. That's a harder thing to fake than a single attribution, which is why proverbs don't come with
a citation and don't need one.

## Does it print well?

Very well, especially rendered as pale, low-contrast type against a dark ground, the way frosted or
sandblasted lettering actually looks.

The letterforms hold up best kept simple and evenly weighted — fine serifs with sharp hairlines are
the first detail to disappear once the "sandblasted" texture is applied, so a slightly heavier, calmer
serif survives the effect better than a display face would. [A short, deliberate palette does more
work here than it looks like it should](/stories/limited-palette-prints-better): the frosted
effect is really one tone against one ground, not a gradient.

Slate, charcoal and deep navy all suit the glass effect. One ink, printed as a pale, slightly
translucent tone rather than solid white.

## How do I get one made?

Describe the proverb and the language it came from at [JustOG](/) — the original if you have it, the
translation, and who checked it.

Pick a direction, drag the crop frame, see it composited on the real garment, and it's made to
order and shipped.

Designs other people have published are in the [shop](/shop).

The egg is still walking. Nobody's in a hurry to find out if it arrives.