Famous Proverbs

1] The great would have none great, and the little all little

2] Do as I say, not as I do

3] Every man has his price

4] Adversity is the touchstone of friendship

5] Nothing is so certain as death

6] Cease to hope and you will cease to fear.

7] The result justifies the deed

8] Life begins only in success

9] Give a clown your finger, and he will take your hand

10] After the extreme of cold comes spring

11] First impressions are half the battle

12] Do not triumph before the victory

13] If you can’t bite, never show your teeth.

14] Threatened folk live long

15] Travel makes a wise man better, but a fool worse

16] Once a knave, always a knave

17] Better do a kindness near home than go to a temple far away to burn incense.

18] He that knows little often repeats it

19] Give credit where credit is due

20] Great minds think alike

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

22] Why play the harp to a buffalo?

23] The courteous one learns his courtesy from the discourteous.

24] What is new cannot be true

25] They also serve who only stand and wait

26] A wise man hears one word and understands two

27] A barber learns to shave by shaving fools

28] It is a foolish sheep that makes the wolf his confessor

29] The tongue stings

30] He who touches pitch will be defiled

31] He that has a fellow-ruler, has an over-ruler. ¶ There is no good accord, where every man would be a lord

32] Worse things happen at sea

33] We live by laws, not by examples

34] You cannot sell the cow and sup the milk

35] Adversity makes strange bedfellows

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

37] Common fame is seldom to blame

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

39] Too much money makes one mad

40] Much babbling is not without offence

41] He who does not rise early never does a good day’s work

42] Life means strife

43] Appearances are deceptive

44] Pleasure has a sting in its tail

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

46] In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

47] Light burden I heavy if far borne

48] First come, first served

49] Even the grubs in the rocks manage to survive

50] Sometimes the best gain is to lose

51] No man is born wise or learned

52] A new broom sweeps clean, but the old brush knows all the corners

53] The faulty stands on his guard

54] It is best to be on the safe side

55] A long tongue is a sign of a short hand

56] A man may bear till his back breaks

57] If wishes were horses, beggars would ride (or might ride)

58] The strength of the chain is in the weakest link.

59] Don’t swap horses while crossing a stream

60] Novelty always appears handsome

61] On an open plain, the rhododendron is a tall tree

62] Better a louse in the pot than no flesh at all

63] A cat has nine lives

64] God’s lambs will play.

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

66] Good counsel never comes amiss

67] A house divided against itself cannot stand

68] A good word stills great anger

69] Better late than never

70] Naturally the same beans from the same bin.

71] Credit lost is like a Venice glass broken

72] Opportunity seldom knocks twice

73] If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite

74] Even the weariest river winds somewhere safe to sea

75] Tempt not a desperate man

76] The voice is the best music

77] Envy shoots at others and wounds herself

78] Words and feathers the wind carries away

79] He who does not heed the good advice of an experienced person will soon find himself suffering for his stubbornness.

80] As well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamp

81] The mob has many heads but no brains

82] To know the husband, observe the face of the wife

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

84] Leave well alone

85] Goods that are much on show lose their colour

86] When one door shuts, another opens

87] It is lawful to learn even from an enemy

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

89] Confession of our fault is the next thing to innocence

90] The rich knows not who is his friend

91] Mix work with pleasure and you will never go mad.

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

93] It is too late to call back yesterday

94] Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise

95] All men are mortal

96] Time flies

97] Too much curiosity lost paradise

98] The money you refuse will never do you good

99] Poison is poison though it comes in a golden cup.

100] It is easier to praise poverty than to bear it.