Gloomiest/ darkest phrase/saying in your language?

It's international now. I found one reference saying that it's English proverb, another that it's quote from Lenin. May be both are true.
 
A phrase that occurs from time to time in my home is one that is uttered at night, between turning off the TV and turning on the lamp, or coming home after dark and the lights aren't on (no, the switch is not next to the door like any sensibly-built place):

"Maddy, get the <censored> out of my way, I can't see you!" :mad:

(Maddy is my cat, she's black, and has utmost faith in my ability to avoid stepping on her when there's no light and she's getting underfoot in hopes that I'm going to give her a treat. Her faith is occasionally misplaced, on both counts.)
 
A local proverb: "You don't mention rope when in the house of a hanged person". It means what the following english one does: "people living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones".
I've always understood the first one as simply a suggestion to be tactful and the second as a suggestion not to criticize others on topic one is oneself vulnerable on.
 
I've always understood the first one as simply a suggestion to be tactful and the second as a suggestion not to criticize others on topic one is oneself vulnerable on.

The first one can have that meaning too, but it also can be far more of a snipe, much like the second one is ;) Depends on whether the hanged man is meant as a victim or a perpetrator.
 
At least the Estonian version makes it clear the "hanged man" is a victim...
 
^Well, you don't need to have such darkness in sayings, given you live in a climate that is super-dark already :eek:
"hanged man" in the first case connotes something like "with what you did, you deserve to be hanged"
 
The first one can have that meaning too, but it also can be far more of a snipe, much like the second one is ;) Depends on whether the hanged man is meant as a victim or a perpetrator.

We have in Dutch a saying that I think can also be interpretated in two ways, meaning almost the opposite of each other:
"Als het kalf verdronken is, dempt men de put"
literally: "when the calf is drowned, one fills up the well"
German has something similar
mostly used to blame and complain when something preventive is done too late.

As a child I believed that.
But grown up I wonder....
English has the saying: "don't fix it, when it is not broken"
It is highly unpractical to take preventive actions against every perhaps possible accident.
And that changes I think the meaning into:
"Well.... it is now certain and time to do something"
 
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