Famous Proverbs

1] It is hard to sail over the sea in an egg-shell

2] Love and business teach eloquence

3] We live laws, not by examples

4] The greatest step is that out of doors

5] All that glitters is not gold

6] Circumstances alter cases

7] He thinks not well that thinks not again

8] Servants will not be diligent, where the master’s negligent

9] Not good is it to harp on the on the frayed string

10] Water far away will not extinguish a fire that is nearby; relatives far from you are not as good as neighbours close to you.

11] Call no man happy till he is dead

12] He that would the daughter win, must with the mother first begin

13] Ready money is ready medicine

14] Better never begin than never make an end

15] Wiles help weak folk

16] Where every man is master, the world goes to wrack

17] Never catch a falling knife or a falling friend

18] Laws catch flies but let hornets go free

19] Virtue is praised by all, but practiced by few

20] When we sing, everybody hears us; when sigh, nobody hears us

21] A forced kindness deserves no thanks

22] Innocence is no protection

23] Evil to him who evil thinks.

24] Since god has not bent the top of the palm tree, he has given a long neck to the giraffe

25] To take revenge is often to sacrifice oneself

26] Little things please little minds

27] We do as we can, since we can’t do as we would

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

29] Desires are nourished by delays

30] Home is home though it be never so homely

31] He that would have eggs must endure the cackling of hens

32] Well begun is half done.

33] Will is the cause of woe

34] The great fish eat up the small

35] Better be alone than in bad company

36] Nothing is given so freely as advice

37] A man must plough with such oxen as he has

38] Dumb dogs are dangerous

39] A little body often harbours a great soul

40] A thief passes for a gentle man when stealing has made him rich

41] It is easier to pull down than to build

42] Practice is the science that gives confidence

43] If one sheep leaps over the ditch (or dyke), all the rest will follow

44] A lion may come to be beholden to a mouse

45] Young saint, old devil.

46] It is easy to bear the misfortunes of others

47] Two dogs fight for a bone, and a third runs away with it.

48] One man sows and another reaps

49] A good Conscience is the best divinity

50] He that the devil drives, feels no lead at his heels

51] Thieves and rogues have the best luck, if they do but escape hanging

52] Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard

53] Ill news comes often on the back of worse

54] Every man is his own worst enemy

55] The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man

56] Every bean has its black

57] Love is without reason

58] A bad padlock invites a picklock

59] A beggar pays a benefit with a louse

60] By doing nothing, we learn to do ill

61] Dying men speak true

62] The peacock has fair features, but foul feet.

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

64] Repentance comes too late

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

66] Money is power

67] It is a shame to be shameless

68] Just give me one end of the line and I’ll get to the other

69] The dog that is idle barks at his fleas, but he that is hunting feels them not.

70] Love your neighbour, yet pull not down your hedge

71] The wish is father to the thought

72] To teach is to learn twice over

73] All is vanity.

74] It is easier to pour away water than to gather it.

75] Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t

76] The tailor makes the man

77] There are more men threatened than stricken

78] Poverty obstructs the road to virtue

79] Much babbling is not without offence

80] A man may learn wit every day.

81] Like breeds like

82] Better to wear out than rust out

83] A merchant that gains not, loses

84] No one betrays himself by silence

85] Solitude is the best nurse of wisdom

86] By falling we learn to go safely

87] Look after your money and don’t make your neighbour a thief

88] An ill wound is cured, not an ill name

89] First impressions are the most lasting

90] A good marksman may miss

91] Woes unite foes

92] An evil life is a kind of death.

93] Mercy to the criminal may be cruelty to the people

94] Great consolation may grow out of the smallest saying

95] After a dream of a wedding, comes a corpse

96] A man’s mother is his other God

97] Never too late to late to repent

98] He has not lost all who has one cast left

99] What is deferred is not abandoned

100] Shrouds have no pockets