Famous Proverbs

1] The time to come is no more ours than the time past

2] Charity begins at home.

3] Only with a new ruler do you realize the value of the old

4] Every man has the defects of his own virtues (or qualities)

5] Take away fuel, take away flame

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

7] Lightning never strikes twice in the same place

8] Who receives a gift, sells his liberty

9] A good paymaster needs no surety

10] An obedient wife commands her husband

11] Better some of a pudding than none of a pie.

12] A goose quill is more dangerous than a lion’s paw

13] It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions but hard to find a cure.

14] Ale will make a cat speak

15] Facts are more eloquent than oratory

16] He who aims at the moon may hit the top of a tree; he who aims at the top of a tree is unlikely to get off the ground

17] Half an egg is better than empty shell

18] The wolf knows what the ill beast thinks

19] Wishes can never fill a sack

20] Hasty climbers have sudden falls

21] It’s dogged that does it

22] Give yourself a pinch, and you will know how a pinch must hurt others

23] New meat begets a new appetite

24] The bigger they are, the harder they fall

25] An old ox will find a shelter for himself

26] Poor folk fare the best

27] Dying men speak true

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

29] Some people will never learn anything because they understand everything too soon.

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

31] That fish will soon be caught that nibbles at every bait

32] A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his home

33] Where there is peace, God is

34] When wine sinks, words swim

35] Dirty linen should be washed at home

36] In indecision itself, grief is present.

37] It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions but hard to find a cure.

38] After dinner sit a while, after supper walk a mile.

39] Each man, in corrupting others, corrupts himself

40] Never grieve for what you cannot help

41] Calamity is man’s true touchstone

42] Ill – gotten goods never prosper

43] A bribe will enter without knocking

44] Good words are worth much and cost little

45] A guilty conscience needs no accuser

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

47] Zeal without prudence is frenzy

48] Patience is a virtue

49] The young will sow their wild oats

50] A cat may look at a king

51] The Friar Preached against stealing and had a goose in his sleeve

52] Take away fuel, take away flame

53] It at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again

54] Big words seldom go with good deeds

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

56] The hand that gives, gathers

57] After the extreme of cold comes spring

58] Covetousness is always filling a bottomless vessel

59] Little birds that can sing and won’t sing should be made to sing

60] The faulty stands on his guard

61] Promises are like pie-crust, made to be broken

62] To refuse and to give tardily is all the same

63] God comes at last when think he is farthest off

64] Like mother, like daughter

65] Variety takes away satiety

66] Dead dogs bark not

67] It is better to have done something great than to have never been successful

68] Accidents will happen in the best regulated families

69] There is nothing lost by civility

70] There are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it

71] Striving to better, often we mar what’s well.

72] He is not fit to command others, that cannot command himself

73] A joke never gains over an enemy, but often loses a friend

74] From small beginnings come great things

75] Frugality is the mother of virtue

76] A blind man who sees is better than a seeing man who is blind

77] A prophet is without honour in his own country

78] It is easy to be wise after the event

79] Better the foot slip than the tongue

80] A change is as good as rest

81] Marriages are made in heaven

82] The absent party is always to blame.

83] While the word is in your mouth, it is your own; when ‘tis another’s

84] Shrimps get broken backs when whales fight

85] Forbidden fruit is sweetest

86] Great oaks from little acorns grow

87] Sickness soaks the purse

88] Things past cannot be recalled

89] It is ill striving (or swimming) against the stream (or tide)

90] To err is human; to forgive, divine

91] Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth

92] III luck is good for something

93] Learning is like sailing against the tide - if you don’t move forward, you go backward

94] A clear conscience fears not false accusations

95] Do as you would be done by

96] When fortune smiles, embrace her.

97] The poor suffer all the wrong

98] Forbidden fruit is sweetest

99] Kindle not a fire that you cannot extinguish

100] A man’s studies pass in to his character