Wilhelm Busch's best sayings
The top 3 according to 0 votes from people: Becoming a father isn't hard, / being one, however, is. · The good – of this there is no doubt – / is always the bad we go without. · It's an old custom, as we know: / where there are worries, liqueurs flow!. (Updated Nov 18, 2025.)
From Max and Moritz to Pious Helen and Plisch and Plum: Wilhelm Busch's couplets that became proverbs, each with the work it comes from.
Automatically translated (original in Deutsch). See the original
Top 14
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1
Becoming a father isn't hard, / being one, however, is.
Julchen, preface.
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2
The good – of this there is no doubt – / is always the bad we go without.
Pious Helen, closing words.
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3
It's an old custom, as we know: / where there are worries, liqueurs flow!
Pious Helen, chapter 16.
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4
But here, as everywhere, / things don't turn out the way you think.
Plisch and Plum, chapter one.
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5
Virtue needs encouragement; / wickedness you can manage alone!
Plisch and Plum, chapter seven.
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6
Stupidity you see in others / usually lifts the spirits.
Spricker. Aphorisms and rhymes.
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7
One-two-three, at a rushing pace / time runs on, and we run with it.
Julchen, A restless night.
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8
So it has been decreed: / that man must learn something indeed.
Max and Moritz, Fourth Trick.
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9
The artist always feels offended / when things don't go as he intended.
Fipps the Monkey, chapter 9.
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10
Music is often found unpleasing, / because it always comes with noise.
Dideldum!, The Mole.
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11
Whoever makes a good roast / has a good heart as well.
Critique of the Heart.
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12
The difficulty's always small, / as long as nothing gets in the way.
Balduin Bählamm, the Thwarted Poet, ending.
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13
Pains I've had, / those I like.
Adventures of a Bachelor.
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14
Painting pictures comes easily; / finding people who'll pay for them doesn't.
Painter Klecksel, chapter 5.
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