Famous Proverbs

1] Gifts blind the eyes.

2] Don’t cast your pearls before swine

3] Love me, love my dog

4] Tell the truth and shame the devil

5] He’s his father’s (or mother’s) son

6] Revenge never repairs an injury

7] By doing nothing, we learn to do ill

8] He has to do what is foul, never comes away clean

9] Self do, self have

10] Precepts may lead but examples draw

11] He that gives his goods before he be dead, take up a mallet and knock him on the head

12] A beggar can never be bankrupt

13] Law cannot persuade where it cannot punish

14] If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

15] Rust wastes more than use

16] T’ is safest making peace with sword in hand

17] If every man would sweep before his own door, the city would soon be clean

18] Don’t play with edged tools

19] He that mischief hatches mischief catches.

20] Ninety per cent of inspiration is perspiration

21] Gold brings gold; lack of gold, a headache

22] The child says nothing but what it hears by the fire

23] The most high Good sees and bears; me neighbour knows, nothing, and yet is always finding fault.

24] A good drink makes the old young

25] Even if you wash a crow with rose- water, its feathers won’t become white.

26] The road to hell is paved with good action

27] If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite

28] Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

29] Don’t wash your dirty linen in public

30] A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.

31] If you wish good advice, consult an old man

32] Fields have eyes and woods have ears

33] However much the arm may swing out, the armpit is where it sticks

34] A curse will not strike out an eye unless a fist goes with it

35] Shrouds have no pockets

36] The greater the kindred, the less the kindness.

37] Those that make the best use of their time, have none to spare

38] An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes.

39] The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

40] Distance lends enchantment to the view

41] Birds of a feather flock together

42] Mirth without measure is madness

43] A good servant must have good wages

44] You cannot serve God and Mammon

45] See how the wind blows

46] Exceptional bravery is often hidden under a cloak of timidity

47] Good fame is better than a good face

48] Quarrels do not last long if the wrong is only on one side

49] No man is his craft’s master the first day

50] A soft answer turns away wrath

51] Love will find a way

52] It is the beautiful bird which gets caged

53] He who works before dawn will soon his own master

54] A bad workman always blames his tools

55] Dreams go by contraries

56] He cannot speak well that cannot hold his tongue

57] Gold will not buy everything

58] A man turned pig no longer fears filth

59] An enemy may chance to give good counsel

60] Mount Fuji itself is not So beautiful to one who is cold and hungry

61] Steer not after every mariner’s direction

62] Honey is sweet, but the bee stings

63] They also serve who only stand and wait

64] See which way the cat jumps

65] What children hear at home, soon files abroad

66] Little things are pretty

67] No answer is also an answer

68] If the cap fits, wear it

69] Misfortune arrives on horseback but departs on foot

70] Of a new prince, new bondage

71] Never do evil that good may come of it

72] Dirty linen should be washed at home

73] Much meat, much malady

74] The hunchback does not see his own hump, but his companion’s

75] Submitting to one wrong brings on another.

76] Brave actions never want a trumpet.

77] Wise men are caught in wiles

78] When you live next to a cemetery, you cannot weep for everyone

79] Ignorance is the peace of life

80] Ninety per cent of inspiration is perspiration

81] Never spend your money before you have it

82] Health and wealth create beauty

83] As long lives a merry man as a sad

84] Safety lies in the middle course

85] The bee sucks honey out of the bitterest flowers

86] A good name is sooner lost than won

87] It is no use spoiling the ship for a half penny worth of tar

88] Love knows no limit

89] A good name is better than riches

90] The calmest husbands make the stormiest wives

91] While there is life, there is hope

92] He who leaps high must take a long run

93] Every horse thinks its own pack heaviest

94] Gossiping and lying go together

95] Take heed is a fair thing

96] A door must be either shut or open

97] A fault confessed is half redressed

98] In indecision itself, grief is present.

99] Hope for the best and prepare for the worst

100] Who keeps company with the wolf, will learn to howl