పందిగా పదేండ్లు బ్రతికేకన్నా నందిగా నాలుగేండ్లు బతికితే చాలు

pandiga padendlu bratikekanna nandiga nalugendlu batikite chalu

Translation

Instead of living for ten years as a pig, it is enough to live for four years as a Nandi (sacred bull).

Meaning

Quality of life is more important than quantity. It is better to live a short, dignified, and honorable life than to live a long life in disgrace or without any purpose.

Related Phrases

Like corks sinking and stones floating.

This expression describes an unnatural, illogical, or topsy-turvy situation where things happen contrary to their nature. It is used to point out a state of injustice, corruption, or chaos where the deserving are neglected and the unworthy are elevated.

Thirty years without a husband, sixty years without a wife, and ten years of childhood.

This proverb is used to comment on how time is wasted in life due to indecisiveness, avoidance of responsibilities, or unfavorable circumstances. It highlights a life spent in loneliness or procrastination, where the prime years pass away without fulfillment or purpose.

Lime trees lived in the water, acacia trees lived in the jungle. Very common.

This proverb is used to describe how different people or things thrive in their natural or specific environments. It suggests that survival depends on being in the right place or situation suited to one's nature. It can also be used to indicate that despite hardships or varying conditions, everyone finds a way to exist in their own niche.

Calves do not survive for a glutton, and a wife does not survive for a lazy blockhead.

This proverb highlights the consequences of poor habits and lack of responsibility. A person who consumes everything wastefully (a glutton) leaves nothing to sustain their livestock, and a person who is extremely lazy or stubborn (like a wooden block) cannot maintain a family or relationship because they fail to provide or cooperate. It is used to emphasize that sustainability and family life require discipline and effort.

Like heavy boulders floating and light corks sinking

This expression describes an unnatural or chaotic situation where things are happening contrary to their nature or the established order. It is used when merit is ignored while incompetence is rewarded, or when the impossible happens while the obvious fails.

Bullets floating, Bendu sinking.

This expression is used to describe a topsy-turvy situation where things are happening contrary to their natural order or common sense. It refers to a scenario where heavy, solid things (boulders) are treated lightly or succeed, while light, buoyant things (corks) fail or are suppressed. It is often used to critique injustice, poor management, or illogical outcomes in society.

Bendu is the Eschynomene Indica from which pith hats, models, &c. are made. The order of nature reversed. * El abad de Bamba, lo que no puede comer, dalo por su alma,

Better to live for six months as a breeding bull than to live for a year as a working ox.

Quality of life is more important than quantity. It is better to live a short, meaningful, and independent life with dignity and freedom rather than a long, monotonous life of servitude and hard labor.

Lemons survived in the water, and acacia trees survived in the forest.

This expression is used to describe a situation where life goes on naturally in its respective environment without much external help. It implies that every living being or entity finds a way to survive and thrive in its own habitat or circumstances. It is often used to reassure someone that things will naturally fall into place or that people will manage to get by in their own ways.

For a woman with thin thighs, the calf muscles seem large.

This proverb is used to describe a situation where a minor asset or quality appears significant only because the primary or fundamental aspects are lacking. It highlights how relativity can make small things seem disproportionately large when compared to something even smaller or weaker.

Are the fruits a burden to the tree?

This expression is used to convey that parents never feel their children are a burden, no matter how many there are or how difficult the circumstances. Just as a tree naturally supports its own fruit, a family or an individual willingly bears their own responsibilities without complaint.