The Proverbial Tongue: A bad workman always finds fault with his tools

 A Bad Workman Always Finds Fault With His Tools

 

Proverbs #1 and 2 are very similar: 

1. A bad workman always finds fault with his tools.

2. A bad workman quarrels with his tools.  

They are about people who don't take responsibility for their own mistakes and instead choose to blame something else. The book only gives equivalents in French and Portuguese:

French: 

- À méchant ouvrier point de bon outil (to a bad worker there's no good tool).

Portuguese: 

- O mau operário queixa-se da ferramenta (a bad worker complains about his tool).

- Quando não se sabe, a ferramenta é má (when you don't know, the tools aren't good).

 

I found a few others online:

Spanish:

- El mal oficial le echa la culpa a la herramiente (the bad worker blames the tool).

- El mal escribano, le echa la culpa a la pluma (a bad clerk blames the feather, aka, the pen).

- Cuando el arriero es malo, le echa la culpa a los burros (A bad wagoner blames the donkeys).

- El mal caminante le echa la culpa al empedrado (a bad walker blames the pavement).

German (although not in the book):

- Wenn der Reiter nichts taugt, hat das Pferd Schuld (If the horseman isn't good, the horse gets blamed for it).

Polish:

- Złej baletnicy przeszkadza rąbek u spódnicy (A bad ballerina gets disturbed by the hem of her skirt).

Palestinian Arabic:

إللي بعرفش يرقص بقول الأرض عوجة (illi bi`rafeš yur'oS bi'uul il'arD `ooja): "He who does not know how to dance says that the floor is crooked."

Turkish:

 - Oynamayan gelin yerim dar dermiş (The bride who can't dance says the space is narrow).

Russian:

- плохому танцоры тапочки мешают /plohomu tantsoru tapochki meshayut/ (a bad dancer is bothered by his slippers). 

 

My favorite so far is the Polish one. Do you know any other sayings about not taking responsibility for one's mistakes? In these or any other languages?