Famous Proverbs

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

2] Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings

3] A fox should not be of the jury at a goose’s trial

4] Desperate diseases need (or must have) desperate cures

5] He that sings on Friday, will weep on Sunday

6] Nature is conquered by obeying her

7] It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead for the rest of your life

8] Judge not, that ye be not judged

9] Don’t burn the candle at both ends

10] All must be as God will

11] Human blood is all of a colour

12] Revenge never repairs an injury

13] Anger and haste hinder good counsel

14] The good die young.

15] Let us do evil that good may come

16] Money breeds (or makes, or begets) money

17] It is as natural to die as to be born

18] Not lock will hold against the power of gold

19] The game is not worth the candle

20] Nothing is certain but the unforeseen

21] Hunger finds no fault with the cookery

22] Talk of an angel and you’ll hear the fluttering of his wings

23] Ambition loses many a man

24] Nothing befalls any man which he is not fitted to endure

25] Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay.

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

27] No matter how much perfume you put on an onion, it will still emit a bad smell.

28] Harsh words cut wounds that fester like cankerous sores

29] What is new cannot be true

30] Bees that have honey in their mouths have stings in their tails.

31] Young saint, old devil.

32] Don’t burn the candle at both ends

33] Better eye sore than al blind

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

35] All cats love fish but fear to wet their paws

36] Shame arises more from fear of men than of God

37] Mercy surpasses justice

38] Poverty does not hurt him who has not been rich before

39] If the fingers of one hand quarrel, they cannot pick up food

40] Eat at pleasure, drink by measure

41] The course of true love never did run smooth

42] A good name keeps its luster in the dark

43] What must be must be

44] Fools grow without watering.

45] Rich folk have many friends

46] An occasion lost cannot be redeemed

47] Eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves

48] They say so’ is half a lie

49] Borrowed garments never fit well

50] An old dog barks not in vain

51] The devil’s children have the devil’s luck

52] Never spend your money before you have it

53] You can’t take it with you when you die

54] The borrower is servant to the lender

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

56] Expectation is better than realisation

57] He that is absent is soon forgotten

58] You may force a man to shut his eyes but you can’t make him sleep

59] Nature is the true law

60] Who receives a gift, sells his liberty

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

62] See which way the cat jumps

63] No road is long with good company

64] A single filament of silk does not make a thread; a single tree does not make a forest

65] Patience is a virtue

66] One drop of poison infects the whole tun of wine

67] Bees that have honey in their mouths have stings in their tails.

68] The pen is the tongue of the hand

69] Without diligence, no prize

70] Better fill a man’s belly than his eye

71] Brevity is the soul of wit

72] When the word is out it belongs to another

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

74] Give him an inch and he’ll take a yard

75] Corn him well and he will work better

76] A secret fire is discovered by the smoke

77] Beauty is potent but money is omnipotent

78] Clothes do not make the man

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

80] It is ill jesting with edged tools

81] Homer sometimes nods

82] Charity excuseth not cheating.

83] Tell the truth and shame the devil

84] Virtue has all things in itself

85] Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings

86] Idleness (or An idle brain) is the devil’s workshop

87] Love your friend with his fault

88] The best horse needs breaking, and the aptest child needs teaching

89] Bad excuses are worse than none.

90] Nothing costs so much as what is given us

91] Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves

92] Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half shut afterwards

93] Better be born lucky than wise.

94] Life is short and time is swift

95] When I lent, I was a friend; and when I asked, I was unkind

96] He who spends before he thrives will beg before he thinks

97] He that makes himself a sheep, shall be eaten by the wolf

98] Like mother, like daughter

99] A man may say too much, even up on the best subjects

100] A change is as good as rest