onde falan cartas, calen barbas

Galician

Alternative forms

• falen cartas, calen barbas

Etymology

"Where charters speak, beards must shut up": the facts (or records) are stronger than spoken words.

Proverb

onde falan cartas, calen barbas

1. (idiomatic) actions speak louder than words
   • 1671, Gabriel Feijoo de Araujo, Contenda dos labradores de Caldelas:

     Juro por tantos, è cantos / que à andeuer denegrada, / anque a justicia me lebe / os bois da corte, yas bacas. / eu pido vsos, e custumes / calen barbas, falen cartas

     I swear by each and every one that they shall see it livid, even if Justice takes away my oxen from the stables and the cows. I ask for customs and habits, actions speak louder than words.

   • 1880, Marcial Valladares, Majina ou a filla espúrea, page 376:

     — Señorito, non lle parezca mal. Ond'hai cartas calan barbas; o que s'escribe lese; o mundo, como V. m'enseña, esta cheo de trampóns e un papeliño sempre é bo, señorito.

     "Milord, don't get me wrong. Where there is charters, men shut up; what's written can be read; the world, as you teach me, is full of frauds and a piece of paper is always for good, milord."

References

• “onde falan cartas, calen barbas” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.