Category: Venezuelan Proverbs

There are moments in our existence when we find ourselves hopelessly at a crossroad. In these moments common sense or any kind of clairvoyance is useless to know what will happen. Moments that fill with uncertainty because we don’t often have the power to influence on the development of different situations, and on occasions one way or another depend on the good or bad will of third parties. However, we can find comfort by saying: “The sun will rise and we’ll see, said the blind man”.

This Venezuela proverb came to mind many months ago, while we were living in a far and inhospitable country of the far south of Latin America and it was time to write it down here.

In my homeland, we use to say this proverb, “no one can say you didn’t dance” when we have to deal with other people underestimating us or showing us contempt, usually at a professional level. These negative attitudes toward us may be motivated because they don’t know anything about us (nor they want to), because of jealousy, selfpreservation instinct or even envy of our features. What “you danced” refers to all experiences and knowledge that we have gathered along the way, no matter if they are empirical or formal. For example, if anyone underestimates our expertice (which we have) at the moment of applying for a job and the result is that we are discarded for a mere whim instead of an objective assessment, we should not despair, because we know that we know, we know that we are capable and we can prove it, because no one can say you didn’t dance!

Original: “Nadie te quita lo bailao”

English equivalent: “No one can say you didn’t dance”