Some Italian proverbs are similar or exactly like English-language proverbs, some are simply different, some are the exact opposite. And some have the same meaning, but with a different expression.
An example of the latter: vuole la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca. The equivalent of "to have your cake and eat it, too." Except that the Italians, preferring wine to sweets (as who wouldn't?), say: "he wants a full cask and a drunk wife."
