Famous Proverbs

1] Nothing crave, nothing have

2] Beauty is only skin deep

3] The joy of the heart makes the face fair.

4] Every cloud has a silver lining

5] Wash your dirty linen at home

6] An army marches on its stomach

7] A willing helper does not wait until he is asked.

8] Beauty is in the face; grace is all over.

9] Patience is a virtue

10] Fish and guests smell in three days

11] A cotton dress wants to be alongside a silk one

12] Every commodity has its discommodity

13] Too much hope deceives

14] Through hardship to the stars

15] Diligence is the mother of good fortune

16] Let sleeping dogs lie

17] The crow laughs at the pig for being black

18] Work expands so as to fill the time available

19] A man of gladness seldom falls into madness

20] Much law but little justice

21] There are more foolish buyers than foolish sellers

22] The poor suffer all the wrong

23] Like question, like answer.

24] Don’t take your harp to the party

25] Pinch the right thigh and the left will feel the pain too.

26] Everything tempts the man who fears temptation. If you can’t be good, be careful.

27] The worth of a thing is what it will bring

28] The loftiest towers rise from the ground

29] There is no smoke without fire

30] The falling drops hollow the stone

31] The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it

32] Every deed is to be judges by the doer’s intention.

33] Conscience is a thousand witnesses

34] An honest good look covers many faults.

35] The fairest flowers soonest fade

36] Even the lion must defend itself against flies

37] If you would make an enemy, lend a man money and ask it of him again

38] Wake not a sleeping lion

39] It the counsel be good, no matter who gave it.

40] As you make your bed, you must lie on it

41] Good goods are not cheap; cheap goods are not good

42] Even water has its ebb and flow

43] At the game’s end we shall see who gains

44] Accusing the times is but excusing ourselves.

45] Soft fire makes sweet malt

46] He that is in poverty is still in suspicion

47] Say as men say, but think to yourself.

48] Money can influence even the spirits

49] Beauty is but skin-deep

50] Truth is stranger than fiction

51] Blue are the far away hills

52] Better never begin than never make an end

53] East or west, home is best

54] Judge not the tree by its bark

55] Burn not your house to fright the mouse away

56] Penny and penny laid up will be many

57] What you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts

58] A lion may be beholden to a mouse

59] Does sound come from an unstruck drum?

60] Destroy the lion while he is yet but a whelp

61] It is too late to call back yesterday

62] The money you refuse will never do you good

63] Lend never that thing you needed most

64] Even though one’s aunt sells the cakes, one will not buy unless they are cheap.

65] He who rides on a tiger can never dismount

66] The tongue is more to be feared than the sword

67] Pursuits become habits

68] A ragged coat may cover an honest man.

69] It is the bridle and spur that makes a good horse

70] The young will sow their wild oats

71] Work has a bitter root but sweet fruit.

72] One father is more than a hundred school masters

73] It is ill striving against the stream

74] A man turned pig no longer fears filth

75] Best is cheapest

76] The heart soon forgets what the eye sees not

77] A fool’s bolt may sometimes hit the mark

78] Absence diminished little passions and increases great ones

79] Might overcome right.

80] Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

81] Heaven takes care of children, sailor and drunken men

82] Make not your sauce, before you have caught the fish.

83] Let another’s shipwreck be you sea-mark.

84] An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening

85] Hunger drives the wolf out of the wood

86] Ready money is a ready remedy

87] Names are debts

88] One sword keeps another in the sheath

89] Soon learnt, soon forgotten

90] Two things do prolong they life: a quiet heart and a loving wife

91] One good turn deserves another

92] Anger and haste hinder good counsel

93] Praise is a spur to the good, a thorn to the evil

94] A crust is better than no bread.

95] There are more ways to kill a dog than hanging it.

96] He that travels far knows much

97] Fortune does not stand waiting at any man’s door

98] Don’t kick against the pricks

99] It is a great victory that comes without blood

100] It is an ill bargain where no man wins