For centuries bread was the staple food in Switzerland, as elsewhere in Europe, and many sayings - some now forgotten - reflect popular attitudes towards it:

• "Old bread isn't hard; what is hard is no bread."
• "Never refuse bread to the poor and beggars: to do so is a sin."

No-nonsense peasant wisdom links bread and hard work, and has little time for those who care for more worldly things:"

• A piece of bread in your sack is better than a feather in your hat."
• "It is easier to eat bread than to earn it.
• "Respect the bread you eat."

Some old sayings from French-speaking Switzerland warn of the folly of not thinking of the future:

• "Three days feasting, and the next day no bread."
• "It's better to eat your black bread first while your teeth are still strong."

A person who had gone bankrupt or suffered some other ruinous event was said by some French speakers to have "let the bread burn" or to have "turned his back on bread" - this last expression could also be used when someone died.

Where in English we say something in demand disappears like "hot cakes", the French say it sells like small loaves, and the Swiss German say it goes like fresh "Weggli" - soft rolls. English speakers might accuse you of wanting to "have your cake and eat it," while Swiss Germans say you want to have "your 5 cents and your Weggli" (den Fünfer und das Weggli wollen).

If somebody - for example an athlete - is thought to be greatly outclassed by an opponent, and not to stand a chance, speakers of Swiss German dialect use a slang expression meaning he or she "has no bread": "het ke Brot."

And finally, a custom which continued into the 19th century: if a boy threw a piece of bread to a girl with the words "I give it to you for marriage," and the girl answered "I accept it," the couple were then regarded as betrothed.