A crow is never the whiter for washing herself often.
Proverbs on a similar topic
- Old habits die hard.
- Nature will have its course.
- That which is crooked cannot be made straight.
- As a man lives, so shall he die, as a tree falls, so shall it lie.
- An ape is ne'er so like an ape, as when he wears a doctor's cape.
- The ass loaded with gold Still eats thistles.
- What good can it do an ass to be called a lion?
- The cask savours of the first fill.
- A kite will never be a good hawk.
- Bring a cow to the hall and she will run to the byre.
- Send a fool to France, and a fool he'll come back.
Related proverbs
Similar proverbs in the same language
English
- He that washes an ass's head, loses both his soap and his labour.
Similar proverbs in another language
Latin
- Quod natura negat, reddere nemo potest. What nature denies, no one can repay.
- Aegre reprehendas, quod sinis consuescere. You criticize yourself for allowing yourself to get used to it.
French
- A laver la tête d'un âne, l'on n'y perd que la lessive. When you wash a donkey's head, all you lose is the detergent.
German
- Bauer bleibt Bauer. Farmer remains farmer.
- Auf einen Eselkopf sind Laugen umsonst. Lyes are free on a donkey's head.
- Beim Raben hilft kein Bad. No bath will help with the raven.
Czech
- Smaž hada, jak chceš, nebude z něho úhoř. Fry the snake all you want, it won't be an eel.
- Kdo co má od přirození, těžce se to při něm změní. Who has what by nature, it's hard to change it.
- S čím kdo vyrostl, to mu i přirostlo. What one has grown up with, one has grown attached to.
- Kavka, by se na sněhu válela, nezbělí. Kavka, would roll in the snow, would not turn white.
- Cikána mýti — marná práce. It's a futile job to mystify a gypsy.
- Mouřenín nezbělí. Mourynen will not turn white.