Famous Proverbs

1] Vice makes virtue shine

2] What is worth doing is worth doing well

3] Now is now, and then was then

4] Conscience does make cowards of us all

5] Old vessels must leak

6] Ninety per cent of inspiration is perspiration

7] Do as I say, not as I do

8] Intimacy lessens fame

9] The best remedy against an ill man, is much ground between

10] Be still and have thy will

11] Let an ill man lie in the straw and he looks to be thy heir

12] Of a new prince, new bondage

13] Through indecision, opportunity is often lost.

14] Pride goes before a fall

15] Dying is as natural as living

16] Accidents will happen in the best regulated families

17] Revenge is sweet

18] Manners and money make a gentleman

19] Penny wise, pound foolish

20] We shall lie all alike in our graves

21] A single rose does not mean spring

22] Where bad’s the best, bad must be the choice

23] To err is human

24] When you drink water from the stream, don’t forget that the source of it is the spring

25] Fortune knocks once at every man’s door

26] Second thoughts are best

27] It is useless to flog a dead horse

28] Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you

29] Even the tiger will appear if you talk about him

30] If it were not for hope, the heart would break

31] The last drop makes the cup run over

32] Even dust, when piled up, may form a hill

33] What is money to a cat?

34] A bad workman quarrels with his tools.

35] Experience is a dear school, but fools learn in no other

36] Where grooms and householders are all alike great, very disastrous will it be for the houses and all that dwell in them

37] Soon gotten, soon spent

38] Dress up a stick and it does not appear to be a stick

39] Good clothes open all doors

40] They that dance must pay the fiddler

41] A man should keep from the blind and give t his kin.

42] Borrowed garments never fit well

43] When a tiger dies, it leaves a skin; when a man dies, he leaves a name

44] Hope is but the dream of those that wake

45] Poverty parts friendship

46] It is ill sitting at Rome and striving against the pope

47] Sickness soaks the purse

48] Never do evil that good may come of it

49] Beware of no man more than himself

50] We must not look for a golden life in an iron age

51] One can’t help many, but many can help one

52] If you always say ‘No’, you’ll never get married

53] Soft fire makes sweet malt

54] A good reaper deserves a good sickle.

55] He who would catch fish must not mind getting wet.

56] The pitcher goes so often to me well that it is broken at last

57] Anger and haste hinder good counsel

58] You cannot put an old head on young shoulders.

59] Choose your neighbour before your house and your companion before the road.

60] Much travel is needed to ripen a man’s rawness

61] An ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest

62] Fortune knocks once at everyone’s door (or gate)

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

64] Why play music for a deal man or dance for a blind man?

65] Throw out a sprat to catch a mackerel

66] A man may learn wit every day.

67] Kick a tone in anger, and you will hurt your own feet

68] A little body often harbours a great soul

69] Death alone can kill hope

70] The hen that lays the eggs knows the pain

71] Business is business

72] He who squeezes in between the onion and the peel, picks up its stink.

73] A forced kindness deserves no thanks

74] Love is never without jealousy

75] The fox may grow grey, but never good

76] Good to begin well, better to end well.

77] Everybody’s business is nobody’s business

78] The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

79] A old poacher makes the best gamekeeper

80] Knowledge is power

81] A blind man who sees is better than a seeing man who is blind

82] It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog

83] Those who live near water know the nature of fish; those who live near hills know the calls of birds

84] God forgives sins, otherwise heaven would be empty.

85] Nature will have her course

86] The mob tramples on the coward

87] Care brings grey hair.

88] It is easier to pull down than to build

89] Dream of a funeral and you hear of a marriage

90] Though the food is plain, stomach may be filled; though the cloth is coarse, one may be clad to a ripe old age

91] The rich knows not who is his friend

92] Laugh before breakfast, you’ll cry before supper

93] A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder

94] Have two strings to your bow

95] Empty vessels make the most sound

96] It is equally an error to trust all men or no man

97] The morning hour has gold in its mouth

98] Young saint, old devil.

99] A discontented man knows not where to sit easy

100] The king can make a knight, but not a gentleman