Gloomiest/ darkest phrase/saying in your language?

[Thorgalaeg]

A todo cerdo le llega su San Martin.

"Every pig eventually gets his San Martin"

San Martin being a festivity where pigs used to be killed and eaten. Basically means that sooner or later we all will have to pay somehow for every wrongdoing we have done.

 

[crabapple]

"jämna plågor" , translated: even pains. Meaning "as usual"

 

[Perfection]

Cello Dork

 

[Kyriakos]

^You gave in to fear, Perf, listen to Swayze

 

[Ferocitus]

"The luck of the Irish."

"Life is a business that does not cover the costs."
Schopenhauer

Ambrose Bierce certainly had some pessimistic and gloomy views of humanity.
Among many others...

Friendless, adj. Having no favors to bestow. Destitute of fortune. Addicted to utterance of truth and common sense.

Patience, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.

Philosophy, n. A route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.

Road, n. A strip of land along which one may pass from where it is too tiresome to be to where it is futile to go.

Twice, adv. Once too often.

Success, n. The one unpardonable sin against one's fellows.

Year, n. A period of three hundred and sixty-five disappointments.

 

[Ferocitus]

I like the 2nd Chinese curse (1st = "May you live in interesting times.")

May your ideas come to the attention of someone in authority.

 

[Farm Boy]

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

 

[Kyriakos]

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Which wasn't originally in english ^^

Btw, it even is a false translation, cause the original doesn't mean dust, but sand.

In fact, for a biblical saying, the english translator took quite some liberty, with "Χους ην και εις χουν απελεύσητω", which word for word would mean "(while they were here) they were sand, and to sand they return by leaving".

 

[Farm Boy]

It's from the Anglican service, it changed enough in adaptation I was considering it its own thing. But that's fine. Might not even qualify as it sometimes manages to grant cold comfort at the end of the line.

 

[Kyriakos]

It possibly (the original) was (consciously or not) based on a much older greek saying, by Anaximander, according to which (loosely translated) "things get born in Infinity, then go to the worlds to live, then upon death return to Infinity". Adding that they return there "to pay tribute", which renders it pretty bleak

 

[Hrothbern]

Lex dura, sed lex

Latin for: the law is hard, but it is the law

I find that very depressing in the hands of people without compassion

 

[Kyriakos]

^"Et in Arcadia ego", meaning "I also (even) exist in Arcadia (ie some utopic place)", said by the grim reaper/death.

 

[red_elk]

"Закон что дышло - куда повернёшь, туда и вышло" - Law is like a harness pole, you can turn it and go wherever you want.
Another translation (more loose, but retaining rhyme):
"The law is like an axle — you can turn it whichever way you please, if you give it plenty of grease"

 

[Kyriakos]

"Закон что дышло - куда повернёшь, туда и вышло" - Law is like a harness pole, you can turn it and go wherever you want.
Another translation:
"The law is like an axle — you can turn it whichever way you please, if you give it plenty of grease"

Iirc by Thucydedes: "Law, like a spider's nest, catches smaller beings that approach it, but larger beings break through" (loose translation).

"Only the dead have seen the end of war" Plato

 

[Gori the Grey]

You might want to sit down for this . . .

 

[red_elk]

"Only the dead have seen the end of war" Plato

"Живые позавидуют мёртвым" - those who survive will envy the dead ones.
Oldest source is probably N. Karamzin, 1803.

Or similar "чл҃цы во вре́мя о҆́но и҆́мꙋтъ завидѣти ме́ртвымъ" (Old Slavic) - people in this time will envy the dead.
Source dated 1647, according to wiktionary.

 

[Ferocitus]

There's an old Lithuanian saying my grandparents used:
"The smallest puppies are always drowned first."

(I haven't spoken or written Lithuanian for about 40 years, so please
excuse me for not providing it in the original Proto-Indo European.)

 

[Gori the Grey]

Brace for impact!

 

[Yeekim]

Üks loll võib rohkem küsida, kui kümme tarka vastata.

A single fool can ask more questions than ten wise men can answer.

 

[Hrothbern]

Üks loll võib rohkem küsida, kui kümme tarka vastata.

A single fool can ask more questions than ten wise men can answer.

We have exactly the same one in Dutch: "Een gek kan meer vragen dan tien wijzen kunnen beantwoorden"

Another one close to that is: "Gekken schrijven hun naam op deuren en glazen"
Fools write there name on everything where it catches the eye