Enduring hardship

If you are patient, you will gain; if not, you will be buried—and God’s decree takes effect either way.

It says that patience is preferable when events are governed by God’s decree. Whether a person accepts the situation patiently or resists it, the decree will still take effect.

You're no different from anyone else.

The saying reminds a person that their situation is shared: whatever the rest of the group has had to accept, they can accept too. Going along with a common burden is not a personal failing, so no one should single them out for blame.

If you make yourself a camel, do not bellow about the labor.

The proverb rebukes a person who makes himself seem important and then complains about the burden attached to that posture. Its camel image concerns a conspicuous self-presentation, not necessarily actual leadership or social status.

It's only a thrashing. It will pass, and no one ever died of one.

The speaker pictures a single round of blows that must be taken and finds comfort in its limits. The blows will land, the episode will end, and life will carry on. Something that hurts but cannot kill does not deserve dread in advance, since it will soon be over and forgotten.

Better a lifetime of hardship than a single sleep in the grave.

The saying declares that life is preferable even when it is marked by hardship, distress, or deprivation. It values remaining alive, however troubled, above death as an escape from suffering.

Duck down before it, and it will go right past you.

The saying advises meeting an unnamed misfortune or hostile moment, with the 'it' left implied, by lowering oneself and letting it sweep past rather than standing upright against it. The image is of someone ducking so that a blow or gust goes overhead, leaving them unharmed once it is gone.

If you venture into the sea, you must put up with the waves.

Choosing to enter a risky situation also means accepting the difficulties that come with it. The saying urges a person to be ready to endure those difficulties rather than expect the undertaking to be free of trouble.

Anyone who loves cumin will willingly roll in the dirt around it.

Deep attachment to a desired thing can make burdensome or degrading conditions seem easier to accept. What matters greatly to someone may lead them to tolerate effort, discomfort, or loss of dignity.

Anyone who eats honey must put up with bee stings.

The image rests on a simple fact: honey comes from bees, and anyone who reaches for it risks being stung. The saying makes enduring that pain the natural condition for tasting the sweetness, not an unfair extra burden.

Keep saying 'if only' and you'll end up in the asylum.

The proverb warns that clinging to counterfactual 'law kān' thinking, meaning 'if only it had been' rather than a plain 'if', is pointless and harmful. Repeating 'if only things had gone differently' changes nothing that has already happened. It only wears down the person who cannot let go of it.

Anyone who enjoys the good side of something must also accept its hardships.

Benefits and burdens belong together. A person who willingly takes pleasure, advantage, or comfort from an undertaking should not complain when its unpleasant consequences or obligations arrive.