Famous Proverbs

1] A foolish man knows not the art of forgiveness

2] Company in misery makes it light

3] A monk can’t shave his own head

4] Poor men seek meat for their stomach; rich men stomach for their meat.

5] It signifies nothing to play well if you lose.

6] What is a workman without his tools?

7] Names are debts

8] His own ingenuity pricks him.

9] The dog that fetches, will carry.

10] Like master, like man

11] They are rich who have true friends

12] He who holds the ladder is as bad as the thief

13] Better be first in a village than second at Rome

14] Great fortune brings with it great misfortune

15] He who would climb the ladder must begin at the bottom

16] Poor folk fare the best

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

18] He that eats least eats most

19] Like mother, like daughter

20] Who lives by hope will die in hunger

21] He that would know what shall be, must consider what has been

22] A spear you can see can easily be avoided; a hidden arrows is difficult to guard against.

23] He freezes who does not burn

24] The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

25] Better to ask the way than go astray.

26] Wedlock is padlock

27] Absence makes the heart grow fonder

28] The poor suffer all the wrong

29] Sickness shows us what we are

30] Why keep a dog and bark yourself?

31] He that can stay. Obtains

32] What’s done cannot be undone

33] You are never too old to learn

34] Every bean has its black

35] The fairest flowers soonest fade

36] It is a poor kin that has neither whore nor thief in it

37] Everything is good in its season

38] The exception proves the rule

39] Without luck, it is better not to be born

40] A dwarf on a giant’s shoulders sees the farther of the two

41] I saw few die of hunger; of eating, a hundred thousand.

42] Half the world knows not how the other half lives

43] Money is the only monarch

44] A burnt child dreads the fire

45] There is many a true word spoken in jest

46] Intimacy lessens fame

47] Of three main roads, take the middle one

48] It is good to follow the old fox

49] When the butcher has already killed your pig, it is useless to discuss with him the price

50] A good anvil does not fear the hammer

51] When a dwarf ascends a staircase, he gets higher every step

52] Better a lean peace than a fat victory

53] Honesty is ill to thrive by

54] III counsel mars all

55] First come, first served

56] What the eye doesn’t see, the heart grieves not

57] A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

58] The envious man shall never want woe

59] Health and money go far

60] Worry is the interest we pay on trouble before it is due

61] Money isn’t everything

62] It is never too late to mend

63] A swine over-fat, is the cause of his own bane

64] Jack would be a gentleman if he could speak French

65] What we spent, we had; what we gave, we have: what we left, we lost

66] A scalded cat fears hot water.

67] Take heed is a fair thing

68] Even Buddha has a limit to what he can tolerate

69] Open a book and you profit by what you read

70] Every man has his faults

71] Practice what you preach

72] Laws catch flies but let hornets go free

73] Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

74] He who says what he likes shall hear what he does not like

75] He that cannot pay in purse must pay in person

76] Nothing seek, nothing find

77] Plain dealing is a jewel

78] A word is enough to the wise

79] Make yourself all honey and the flies will devour you

80] Marriage halves our griefs, doubles our joys and quadruples our expenses

81] Wake not a sleeping lion

82] The lone sheep is in danger of the wolf

83] Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost

84] When you are an anvil, hold still; when you are an anvil, hold still; when you are a hammer, strike your fill.

85] Manners and money make a gentleman

86] Make the best of a bad bargain

87] A good conscience is a soft pillow

88] Call a spade a spade

89] It is not the hood that makes the monk.

90] A man can do no more than he can

91] When angry, count a hundred

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

93] Love is never without jealousy

94] Who is worse shod than the shoemaker’s wife?

95] Ill – gotten goods never prosper

96] Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it

97] Never too late to repent

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

99] Scatter with one hand, gather with two

100] God makes the back for the burden