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Costa Rican Sayings: 270+ Dichos Explained

Ticos love a good dicho: a proverb to end an argument, an expression to describe a bad mood, a comparison so exaggerated it has to be funny. Knowing a few helps you follow conversations, jokes and even the news.

Here are 278 of them, 71 of them distinctly Costa Rican, each with what it means, when people say it and, where it helps, the word-for-word picture.

Hear it: tap any underlined word or speaker to hear it in a Costa Rican voice. Press and hold to say it yourself and get a score.

Proverbs (150)

Refranes: whole sentences of folk wisdom. Many are shared across the Spanish-speaking world; the ones marked Tico are Costa Rican in their words or places.

You learn by messing up. Said kindly to someone who just made a mistake.Word for word: By ruining things, one learns.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Also a joke before eating something questionable.Word for word: What doesn’t kill, fattens.
Experience beats cleverness.Word for word: The devil knows more for being old than for being the devil.
All that glitters is not gold.
Looks can be deceiving.
Every cloud has a silver lining: something good comes out of a setback.Word for word: There’s no bad that doesn’t come for some good.
Put on a brave face when things go wrong.Word for word: To bad weather, a good face.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Practice makes perfect.Word for word: Practice makes the master.
Nobody is born knowing; everyone has to learn.
Buy cheap, pay twice.Word for word: The cheap turns out expensive.
Take on too much and you do none of it well.Word for word: Who grabs a lot squeezes little.
Brains beat brawn.Word for word: Skill is worth more than strength.
You’re judged by the company you keep.Word for word: Tell me who you walk with and I’ll tell you who you are.
Variety is the spice of life.
Bad people always seem to stick around. Also a joke when someone tough recovers fast.Word for word: Weeds never die.
People don’t change their character.Word for word: Temper and shape until the grave.
Like father, like son.Word for word: A tiger’s cub comes out spotted.
People go back to their nature sooner or later.Word for word: The goat always heads for the hills.
It’s easy to see others’ faults and hard to see your own.Word for word: No monkey sees its own tail.
People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.Word for word: Whoever has a glass roof shouldn’t throw stones at the neighbor’s.
If the shoe fits, wear it.Word for word: Whoever the glove falls on, let them put it on.
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Don’t overcomplicate things or go looking for problems.Word for word: Don’t look for three legs on the cat.
Once bitten, twice shy.Word for word: Whoever got burned by milk even blows on the curd.
If it’s not for you, let it go. Often about someone you’re not going to date.Word for word: Water you won’t drink, let it flow.
What you try to avoid is exactly what you get, twice.Word for word: Whoever doesn’t want broth gets two cups.
Easy come, easy go.Word for word: What comes by water leaves by water.
One good sign doesn’t mean everything is fixed.Word for word: One swallow doesn’t make a summer.
One bad apple spoils the bunch.
If you chose the hardship and enjoy it, it doesn’t bother you.Word for word: Scabies you enjoy doesn’t itch.
Things go wrong right at the last moment.Word for word: The bread burns at the oven door.
“Everyone else has it too” is a fool’s comfort.Word for word: Trouble shared by many: comfort for fools.
Anyone can change their mind.Word for word: Only rivers don’t turn back.
None so deaf as those who won’t listen.
What you don’t know won’t hurt you.Word for word: Eyes that don’t see, heart that doesn’t feel.
Do good for everyone, without expecting anything back.Word for word: Do good without looking at whom.
What you learn properly stays with you.
A full belly makes a happy heart. Said after a good meal.Word for word: Full belly, happy heart.
Hunger is the best seasoning.Word for word: There’s no better sauce than hunger.
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.Word for word: You don’t check the teeth of a gifted horse.
Beggars can’t be choosers.Word for word: For real hunger there’s no bad bread.
One example proves it. Said while pointing at the evidence.Word for word: For a sample, one button.
In a small town everyone knows your business.Word for word: Small town, big hell.
What goes around comes around.Word for word: Everything gets paid for in this life.
After the storm comes the calm.
If you don’t stay alert, you miss out.Word for word: The shrimp that falls asleep gets carried off by the current.
The early bird catches the worm.Word for word: God helps whoever gets up early.
Early risers get the best part. A rhyming cousin of the one above.Word for word: Whoever gets up early eats the chicken breast.
Rushing doesn’t make things happen faster.Word for word: Getting up very early doesn’t make the sun rise sooner.
If you don’t get moving, you get nothing.Word for word: A sitting dog doesn’t catch a deer.
If you don’t work, you don’t get paid.Word for word: A docked ship earns no freight.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
You have to take risks to get anywhere.Word for word: Who doesn’t risk it doesn’t cross the river.
Tico
If you want something good, be ready to work or pay for it.Word for word: Whoever wants sky-blue, let it cost them.
If you want something, you have to get your hands dirty.Word for word: Whoever wants shrimp should get their underpants wet.
Look after your own business yourself.Word for word: Whoever has a shop should tend it.
Money makes money.Word for word: Money calls money.
Whoever divides things up keeps the best piece.Word for word: Who cuts and shares out keeps the best part.
Owing money is easier than owing favors.Word for word: Better to owe money than favors.
Pay in full up front and the work gets sloppy.Word for word: A musician paid in advance doesn’t play a good tune.
Tico
Cash first, then we deal. Blunt and a little crude.Word for word: Money in hand, backside on the ground.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
The boss decides.Word for word: Where the captain commands, the sailor doesn’t.
Nobody wants to work on Monday.Word for word: On Mondays not even the hens lay.
Stick to what you know.Word for word: Shoemaker, to your shoes.
People don’t value what came free.Word for word: What doesn’t cost us, let’s party with it.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.Word for word: In the bad times you get to know your friends.
I help you today, you help me tomorrow.Word for word: Today for you, tomorrow for me.
One good turn deserves another.Word for word: A favor is paid with a favor.
Everyone thinks differently.Word for word: Every head is a world.
To each their own obsession.Word for word: Every crazy person with their topic.
Birds of a feather flock together.Word for word: God raises them and they find each other.
Two of a kind; they deserve each other.Word for word: Such for such.
Tico
Spend time with good people and you’ll become one.Word for word: Hang out with the good ones and you’ll be one of them.
Don’t air your dirty laundry in public.Word for word: Dirty clothes get washed at home.
Tico
Blood is thicker than water.Word for word: Blood pulls.
Stay out of a couple’s fights.Word for word: Between husband and wife, nobody should get involved.
Better alone than in bad company.
Fewer people, bigger shares.Word for word: Fewer donkeys, more corncobs.
Together we’re stronger.Word for word: Union makes strength.
Two heads are better than one.
The worst betrayal comes from your own people.Word for word: There’s no worse wedge than one from the same log.
Give an inch and they take a mile.Word for word: You give them your hand and they take the elbow.
Everyone describes things by how it went for them.Word for word: Each person talks about the fair according to how it went for them.
You don’t get to pick your family.
A true friend is like another self.Word for word: Being a friend is being myself in a different skin.
Everyone carries their own responsibility.Word for word: Let each mast hold up its own sail.
Tico
Everyone fend for themselves; sort out your own business.Word for word: Let each monkey grab its own branch.
You only have one mom: look after her.Word for word: There’s only one mother.
Tico
Greeting people and saying thanks never hurt anyone. Very Tico manners.Word for word: Greeting and thanking can have nothing bad in it.
Where there’s love, there’s jealousy.
True love is the love that never forgets.Word for word: Whoever never forgets loves well.
There’s someone out there for everyone.Word for word: There’s always a torn one for an unstitched one.
Love leaves; the heartache stays.Word for word: The loves go, the pains stay.
Unlucky at cards, lucky in love. Said to cheer up someone who lost a game.
Together but not together-together: close, but not a couple.Word for word: Together but not scrambled.
The best way to get over someone is someone new.Word for word: One nail pulls out another nail.
Long-distance love is for fools. Cheeky, a little rude.Word for word: Love from afar, love for idiots.
Beauty without charm is like a flower with no scent.
The way to the heart is through the stomach.Word for word: Love comes in through the kitchen.
Love is shown in actions, not words.Word for word: Deeds are love, not good reasons.
Better safe than sorry.Word for word: Better to prevent than to regret.
Their bark is worse than their bite.Word for word: A dog that barks doesn’t bite.
Some people profit from chaos.Word for word: In a troubled river, the fishermen win.
Every rule has a loophole.Word for word: Law made, trick made.
Keep an eye on your valuables.Word for word: Watch the Christ, it’s made of silver.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire.Word for word: Leave Guate-bad and end up in Guate-worse.
Tico
Stay out of it; don’t get involved.Word for word: Machete, stay in your sheath.
Never turn your back on a dangerous person or situation.Word for word: Don’t turn your back on the bull.
Watch out for the quiet ones.Word for word: Calm water, God free me from it.
Hang around money or trouble and some of it rubs off.Word for word: Whoever walks in honey gets some stuck on them.
Curiosity killed the cat.
Tico
Busybodies end up getting hurt.Word for word: Every toad dies squashed.
Drinking and driving is a walk with the devil.
Careful, someone’s listening or watching.Word for word: There are Moors on the coast.
Something fishy is going on.Word for word: There’s a cat locked in.
If you join in, you take what comes.Word for word: Whoever joins the game has to put up with it.
Sow trouble and you’ll reap worse.Word for word: Who sows winds reaps storms.
Keep quiet and you stay out of trouble.Word for word: Flies don’t get into a closed mouth.
Silence means yes.Word for word: Whoever stays silent, consents.
Talking it out is how people understand each other.Word for word: By talking, people understand each other.
Walls have ears.
The more you talk, the more you slip up.
Easier said than done.Word for word: From saying to doing there’s a long stretch.
Get it in writing.Word for word: Little papers talk.
Everyone makes mistakes when they speak.Word for word: Whoever has a mouth makes mistakes.
A word to the wise is enough.Word for word: For a good listener, few words.
Better a quiet wise person than a chatty fool.
Tico
Take what people tell you with a grain of salt.Word for word: Whatever they tell you, put it in quarantine.
Better late than never.
Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
Patience, there’s plenty of time.Word for word: Patience, louse, the night is long.
Tico
Relax, there’s time. A very Tico way of saying “no rush”.Word for word: There’s more time than life.
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
Everything in its own time.
It’s never too late to start.
Even the saints weep over wasted time.
Tico
Gray morning, sure afternoon (rain). Costa Rican weather wisdom.Word for word: Dark morning, sure afternoon.
Tico
When clouds cover Barva volcano, rain is coming. Valle Central weather lore.Word for word: Dark Barva, sure downpour.
The rhyme for how many days each month has.Word for word: Thirty days has November, with April, June and September.
If it’s your turn, it’s your turn: you can’t dodge fate.Word for word: Whoever it touches, it touches.
Tico
What’s meant to be will find a way.Word for word: Whoever is born to be a tamal, the leaves fall to them from heaven.
Tuesday the 13th is the unlucky day (not Friday): don’t marry or travel.Word for word: Tuesday the 13th, don’t marry or set sail.
When it rains, it pours.Word for word: Misfortunes never come alone.
Things will be different next time.Word for word: Another rooster will sing for them.
A rolling stone gathers no moss.
Bad luck always hits those who already have it worst.Word for word: Fleas stick to the skinniest dog.
Some are born lucky, some are born to crash.Word for word: Some are born with a star, others are born smashed.
Surprises come from where you least expect.Word for word: The hare jumps out where you least expect it.

Expressions (94)

Phrases you drop into a sentence, like estar de chicha (to be furious) or hacer una vaca (to chip in).

Kill two birds with one stone.Word for word: Kill two birds with one shot.
Tico
To be furious.Word for word: To be of chicha (fermented corn drink).
Tico
To be in a terrible mood.
To be boiling mad.Word for word: To be like water for chocolate.
Tico
To be raging mad.
Tico
To feel nostalgic or heartsick, missing someone.
To be down in the dumps.Word for word: To have your snot hanging.
To be in a good mood, or on a lucky streak.
To be daydreaming, miles away.Word for word: To be on the moon.
To be totally in your element.Word for word: To be like a fish in water.
To feel out of place.Word for word: To be like a rooster in someone else’s yard.
To be fed up.Word for word: To be up to your forelock.
To be up to your neck in trouble.Word for word: To have water up to your neck.
To be between a rock and a hard place.Word for word: Between the sword and the wall.
Tico
To be suspicious about something.Word for word: To have straw behind your ear.
To be on top of things.Word for word: To be on the play.
Tico
To be in the know, part of what’s going on.Word for word: To be in the tamal.
To be starving.Word for word: Belly stuck to the spine.
Tico
To be hungry.Word for word: To have an edge.
Tico
To be broke.
To be flat broke.Word for word: To be on the canvas (knocked down, like in boxing).
Tico
To be even: nobody owes anybody.Word for word: To be boards.
To be sky-high (prices).Word for word: To be up in the clouds.
To be celebrating in style.Word for word: To have the long tablecloths out.
Tico
To be going great, in excellent shape.
Tico
To be in great shape; also “totally, completely”.
To be about to leave.Word for word: To have one foot in the stirrup.
To be a beginner, still green.Word for word: To be in diapers.
To pass the hat: everyone chips in money.Word for word: To make a cow.
Tico
To split the cost fifty-fifty.Word for word: To go at the saw.
Tico
To do a small side job for extra money.Word for word: To do a shrimp.
Tico
To mess up big time.Word for word: To pull a cake.
To put your foot in it.Word for word: To put the paw in.
To butt into a conversation.Word for word: To put your spoon in.
To stick your nose in.
To lend a hand.Word for word: To throw a hand.
Tico
To help someone out.Word for word: To throw the shoulder.
Tico
To play dumb.Word for word: To play the pig.
Tico
To pretend not to notice.
To string someone along, fooling them with little.Word for word: To feed someone corn porridge with your finger.
To change the subject, or to turn the page and move on.Word for word: To turn the leaf.
To hit the nail on the head.Word for word: To hit the white (bullseye).
To get to the point.Word for word: To go to the grain.
To talk nonstop.Word for word: To talk even through the elbows.
Tico
To go slowly, fall behind.Word for word: To go at guava pace.
Tico
To go really fast.Word for word: To go like a poor man’s funeral.
Tico
To show up very late.Word for word: To arrive at the donkey’s hour.
To oversleep.Word for word: To have the blankets stick to you.
Tico
To sleep, take a nap.Word for word: To iron your ear.
Tico
To get drunk.
Tico
To be a bad drunk; to not handle liquor well.Word for word: To have bad guaro (cane liquor).
To win the lottery jackpot, or get very lucky.Word for word: To hit the fat one.
To be born lucky.Word for word: To be born standing up.
To be on a losing streak.Word for word: To have your saint’s back turned.
To backfire.Word for word: The shot comes out of the gun butt.
To get your act together, wake up.Word for word: To put in your batteries.
Tico
To get sharp, pay attention.Word for word: To get alive.
Tico
To keep your eyes open, be careful.Word for word: To peel your eye.
To get even, take your revenge.Word for word: To pull out the nail.
To kick someone when they’re down.Word for word: To make firewood from a fallen tree.
To wash your hands of something.
To have connections who pull strings for you.Word for word: To have a lever.
To work your tail off.Word for word: To sweat the fat drop.
To dance.Word for word: To move the skeleton.
Tico
To dance.Word for word: To shake boards.
To sound like a broken record.Word for word: To scratch the record.
Tico
To spread rumors.Word for word: To scatter balls.
To be a gossip.Word for word: To be long tongue.
Tico
To be a snitch.Word for word: To be a toad.
Tico
To be a good person, nice to be around.Word for word: To be a good grade.
Tico
To be a mean, nasty person.Word for word: To be a bad mare.
To be inseparable friends.Word for word: To be nail and flesh.
To be a piece of cake.Word for word: To be eaten bread.
Tico
To be super easy.Word for word: To be a ham.
Tico
To be stingy.Word for word: To be a nail.
Tico
To be someone who can’t sit still and loves to travel.Word for word: To be a hot foot.
To be the best, the last word.Word for word: To be the lid.
Tico
To be a huge fan of something.Word for word: To be fever.
To be brave and tough.Word for word: To be of hair on the chest.
To be a whole different matter.Word for word: To be period, new paragraph.
To look innocent but not be.Word for word: To be a dead fly.
To speak your mind bluntly.Word for word: To have no hairs on the tongue.
To have no business in this.Word for word: To have no candle at this funeral.
To ignore someone.Word for word: To not give the ball.
No way, not a chance.Word for word: Not even with sticks.
Nothing at all: no entendí ni papa.Word for word: Not even a potato.
Just in case.Word for word: In case of the flies.
Tico
In no time, right away.Word for word: In two touches.
Once in a blue moon.Word for word: Every time a bishop dies.
In the blink of an eye.
Tico
Half-done; neither one thing nor the other.Word for word: Between ripe corn and young corn.
Going great, smooth sailing.Word for word: Wind at the stern.
To kick the bucket.Word for word: To kick the pail.
Tico
A light drizzle. Hear it all the time in rainy season.Word for word: Cat hair.

Tico comparisons (34)

Más … que …: the funniest way Ticos describe anything, and a guaranteed laugh when a visitor uses one.

Tico
To be completely broke.Word for word: Cleaner than the board they scrape tapa de dulce on.
Tico
To look great, fresh and healthy.Word for word: To be like a grape.
To look old and wrinkly.Word for word: To be like a raisin.
Tico
A cheeky reply to “¿Cómo está?”: I’m great, like you were before you got rich.Word for word: Like you were when you were poor.
To be packed in like sardines.
Totally lost, no idea what’s going on.Word for word: More lost than a dog at Mass.
Tico
Completely lost.Word for word: More lost than Tarzan on Mother’s Day.
Tico
Dead serious, stone-faced.Word for word: More serious than a donkey in a boat.
Tico
Very serious, unamused.Word for word: More serious than a monkey with a plastic banana.
Tico
Bored stiff.Word for word: More bored than a pig in a saddlebag.
Tico
Bored out of your mind.Word for word: More bored than a parakeet in a tin.
Over the moon.Word for word: Happier than a bride the night before the wedding.
A bundle of nerves.Word for word: More nervous than a newlywed.
Tico
Doesn’t get it, or won’t budge.Word for word: More closed than a light bulb.
Clingy, never leaves your side.Word for word: More stuck on than a tick.
Tico
Nosy, in everyone’s business; or impossible to get rid of.Word for word: More stuck in than athlete’s foot.
Tico
Endless, dragging on forever.Word for word: Longer than a Sunday with no money.
Tico
Really sad.Word for word: Sadder than a Sunday with no money.
Tico
Painfully slow.Word for word: Slower than the upper jaw (which doesn’t move).
Ancient.Word for word: Older than scabies.
As old as the hills.Word for word: Older than walking.
Stiff as a board.Word for word: Stiffer than three-day-old bread.
Tico
Really ugly.Word for word: Uglier than a car seen from underneath.
A real nuisance.Word for word: More annoying than a stone in your shoe.
Tico
Super awkward.Word for word: More uncomfortable than sleeping next to your mother-in-law.
Tico
Unlucky. In Costa Rica, salado means unlucky.Word for word: Saltier than a sailor’s snot.
Tico
Always unlucky. Torcido means unlucky in Tico Spanish.Word for word: More twisted than a deer’s antler.
Tico
Street-smart, very experienced.Word for word: More played than double zero (in roulette).
Tico
Next to impossible.Word for word: Harder than getting broth out of a rail.
Hopelessly complicated.Word for word: More tangled than the devil’s knot.
Kind and good-hearted.Word for word: Better than bread.
Tico
Famous; everyone knows them.Word for word: Better known than rue (a common herb).
Tico
Handled by everyone.Word for word: More touched than a holy-water font.
Eats and eats and is never full.Word for word: Looks like a bottomless barrel.