“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
My old man had a few he was know for handing out all the time. Not sure if he gets full credit for any of them. The one I heard more times than any was
“Hah, he couldn’t play dead in a western movie!” I’d give anything to hear him say it one more time.
Czech: Devatero řemesel, desátá bída. ("Nine crafts, tenth is misery")
Dutch: Manusje-van-alles ("Man-of-all"), usually meant positively. Also: Handige Harry ("Handy Harry"), 12 ambachten, 13 ongelukken ("12 trades, 13 accidents").
Esperanto: Kiu ĉasas du leporojn, kaptas neniun. ("Who chases two jackrabbits catches none")[9]
Estonian: Üheksa ametit, kümnes nälg ("Nine trades, the tenth one — hunger").
Finnish: Jokapaikanhöylä ("Plane for all purposes"). Usually a compliment, but sometimes implies irony: a tool designed for all purposes is not really good for any specific purposes.
French: Homme-à-tout-faire ("Do-all man" but the meaning is now used more for the job of 'handy-man' than for anything else), Touche-à-tout ("Touch everything"), Qui trop embrasse, mal étreint ("he who embraces too much, has a weak grasp"), Avoir plusieurs cordes à son arc (To have many strings to one's bow), Avoir plusieurs casquettes ("To have many caps"). Occasionally the expression Maître Jacques (literally "Master Jack") is used.
German: Ein Multitalent kann Vieles, aber nichts richtig ("A multi-talent knows much, but nothing properly"). Also the older figure Hansdampf in allen Gassen (literally: "Jack Steam in every alley", with "Hans Dampf" being a personal name) exists.
Greek: Πολυτεχνίτης και ερημοσπίτης ("A man of many crafts and a deserted home"). The empty house – without a spouse and children – implies poverty and lack of prosperity.
Korean: 열 두 가지 재주 가진 놈이 저녁거리가 없다 ("A man of twelve talents has nothing to eat for dinner")
Lithuanian: Devyni amatai, dešimtas – badas ("When you have nine trades, then your tenth one is famine/starvation"). There is also Barbė šimtadarbė ("Barbie with hundred professions"). Visų krūmų neapšiksi ("It's impossible to shit in every bush").
Malay: Yang dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran ("The pursued is not acquired, the held is dropped")
Persian: همه کاره و هیچ کاره ("All trades and no trades")
Polish: Siedem fachów, ósma bieda ("Seven trades, the eighth one — poverty"), Złota rączka ("Handyman"), człowiek orkiestra ("One man band").
Portuguese: Pau pra toda obra ("Wood for any building"); João-Faz-Tudo ("john-handyman"); Homem dos sete ofícios ("man of seven trades")
Romanian: Bun la toate și la nimic ("Good at everything and at nothing")
Russian: Специалист широкого профиля ("Specialist in wide range") — being an oxymoron widely used with irony, though some people use it in positive sense. Мастер на все руки ("Master in all hands"). Used only as a term of praise. За десять дел возьмется, ни одно не закончит ("Starts ten things, finishes none"). К каждой бочке затычка ("A peg for every barrel") — someone who wants to participate in every deal. И швец, и жнец, и на дуде игрец ("Can sew, mow and play the flute") — the most ironical description.
Also, Johannes fac totum, used in Elizabethan English, has since fallen out of favor. Famous for being used as an insult against Shakespeare by his contemporary Robert Greene. Shakespeare was an actor before becoming a playwright, and Greene considered him an upstart and a Johnny do-it-all, not a true writer.
“Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die” - Amelia Josephine Burr
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall” - Confucius
“It’s the real deal Neal, it ain’t no wack-o-tack!” - Some old 70s movie. I don’t remember it’s name, actors or anything, only this phrase… it simply stuck
“And millions of small slimy things crawled on and on and on… and so did I” - Unknown. A signature I read a long time ago.