From the “Common American Phrasebook for Intelligencer Personnel,” issued to Soviet agents targeting U.S. citizens, recovered when the drunken girlfriend of a low-ranking Soviet Embassy diplomat dropped a diplomatic satchel on the airport tarmac and high winds scattered the documents, later recovered by the FBI.
[*translated from Russian] “Americans speak in confusing phrases they call aphorisms, also known as wise words. The words mean little and used in order to say something when nothing needs said. Americans speak often, say very little, yet there is some wisdom in these phrases you can use.
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you
*A bitten hand only feeds you once
Barking dogs seldom bite
*If barking dog does is ineffective
Allow the dog to bite
Blood is thicker than water
*Blood is more slippery than water
You can’t get toothpaste back in the tube
*You cannot unbreak an arm
Even a broken clock is right twice a day
*You cannot unbreak an arm*
Haste makes waste
*Go with caution
failure follows imprecision
Here today gone tomorrow
*Every day remind hostages
Their lives are in your hands
Keep your head above water
*Do not fully submerge the head
Or waterboarding will fail
No pain no gain
*No pain no gain
You can’t fit a round peg in a square hole
*Square peg in round hole
Very effective
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
*Loved ones make excellent leverage
A chain is only as strong as the weakest link
*If you fail you will be killed
If you can’t beat them, join them
*Beat them
If you play with fire, you will get burned
Fire will burn*
Where here’s smoke, there’s fire
*Fire will burn
Squeaky wheel gets the grease
*Your complaining will be noted