Take your wife and your oxen from your own village — the proverb traditionally advised men to marry women from their own community, where families and reputations were known. More broadly it suggests that the familiar is safer than the foreign in all important life decisions.
This is one of the oldest and most widely documented proverbs in the Italian language, attested in written sources from at least the 14th century and probably much older in oral tradition. The pairing of a wife with oxen — the most valuable working animals on a farm — was not a denigration of women but a reflection of medieval agricultural economics, where both a good wife and strong oxen were essential to a farm's survival and their quality was judged by the same community standards. The proverb emerged from a world where villages were largely endogamous by necessity: travel was difficult, strangers were distrusted, and a woman's character and family could only be truly known by neighbours who had watched her grow up. Marrying outside the community carried real risks — a woman's dowry could not be verified, her family's honour was an unknown quantity, and integration into a new household could fail for reasons that a local match would have avoided. The proverb survived industrialisation, urbanisation, and mass migration — often cited ironically in the 20th century as Italians moved from south to north and discovered that their children were marrying people from completely different regional cultures. Today it is used both seriously and as a joke, sometimes to poke gentle fun at someone who has married a foreigner.
Attested in Tuscan manuscripts from the 14th century; one of the most documented proverbs in Italian dialectal literature.
A grandfather commenting on his grandson's choice of partner
Viene da un altro paese, un'altra cultura... moglie e buoi dei paesi tuoi, diceva mio padre. Ma i tempi cambiano.
She comes from another country, another culture... wife and oxen from your own village, my father used to say. But times change.
Humorous use between friends
Hai preso la macchina da un concessionario a trecento chilometri. Moglie e buoi dei paesi tuoi — anche le automobili.
You bought the car from a dealership three hundred kilometres away. Wife and oxen from your own village — cars too.
A woman teasing her brother about his new girlfriend
È australiana? Beh, moglie e buoi dei paesi tuoi... ma suppongo che le regole siano cambiate.
She is Australian? Well, wife and oxen from your own village... but I suppose the rules have changed.
A proverb cited in a discussion about local versus global business
Preferisco lavorare con fornitori italiani. Moglie e buoi dei paesi tuoi — conosco le loro abitudini, conosco le loro garanzie.
I prefer to work with Italian suppliers. Wife and oxen from your own village — I know their habits, I know their guarantees.