your mouth doesn't become sweet by saying sugar

[alpacinoutd]

Hello.

In my language, we have a saying that translates like this:

By saying sugar, your mouth doesn't become sweet.

We use it when we want to suggest that saying something is not enough. You have to take action to achieve the desired effect.

Is there an idiom like that in English?

I already know "actions speak louder than words" but that is slightly different.

[Piscean]

Fine words butter no parsnips?

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fine_...er_no_parsnips

[GoesStation]

We use a somewhat similar expression to encourage kind words: You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

[alpacinoutd]

Fine words butter no parsnips?

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fine_...er_no_parsnips

How common is this?

I also found this:

Wishes don't wash dishes.

How common is that one?

[alpacinoutd]

We use a somewhat similar expression to encourage kind words: You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

Maybe I did not explain myself correctly, but that is different.

The proverb you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar means that it is much easier to get what you want by being polite rather than by being rude and insolent.

I'm looking for an idiom which means mere words do not get you results. You need to take actions.

[Piscean]

Wishes don't wash dishes.

How common is that one?

I've not heard it.

[alpacinoutd]

And how common is this?

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fine_...er_no_parsnips

Have you heard someone use it?

Although I think this expression is more about flattery and people who are sycophantic and obsequious.

[Piscean]

My maternal grandfather (1986-1995) would use it of politicians and their promises at election times, and to salesmen trying to get him to buy something.. Probably the last time I heard him saying them was to my daughter when she told him of the incredibly earth-shattering dissertation she was going to write.

[GoesStation]

Fine words butter no parsnips?

How common is this?

I also found this:

Wishes don't wash dishes.

How common is that one?

The first one is sadly unknown in American English. I can't recall having heard the second but it's certainly apt. Pithy, too.

[GoesStation]

I'm looking for an idiom which means mere words do not get you results. You need to take actions.

I'm told that my late father-in-law frequently said If wishes were horses then beggars would ride. That's a somewhat similar sentiment.