Famous Proverbs

1] They brag most who can do least

2] There are more ways to kill a dog than hanging it.

3] Out of the frying-pan into the fire

4] Black will take no other hue

5] Once you have been bitten by a snake, even a piece of cord will frighten you.

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

7] Every ass likes to hear himself bray

8] Charity covers a Multitude of sins

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

10] The gods send nuts to those who have no teeth

11] They can do least two boast loudest

12] Praise is always pleasant

13] A merry companion is a wagon on the way

14] Throw out a sprat to catch a mackerel

15] The blind man is not afraid of ghosts

16] Faint heart never won fair lady

17] Happy is the country (or nation) that has no history

18] The borrower is servant to the lender

19] Never put off till tomorrow what may be done today

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

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

22] Whether the pitcher strikes the stone, or the stone the pitcher, it is bad for the pitcher

23] All for one, and one for all.

24] It will be the same a hundred years hence

25] The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

26] If you don’t have good weapons, it is better for you to submit

27] He that comes of a hen, must scrape

28] Never grieve for what you cannot help

29] Harp not for ever on the same string

30] By his deeds we know a man

31] Wrong has no warrant

32] Wise men do not argue with idiots

33] Like master, like man

34] Lovers’ quarrels are soon mended

35] The disinterested observer may perceive what is missed by those who are directly involved

36] A bribe will enter without knocking

37] It is ill sitting at Rome and striving against the pope

38] Unpaid debts are unforgiven sins

39] You must lose a fly to catch a trout

40] He stands not surely that never slips

41] The coward threatens only when he is safe

42] A good friend is my nearest relation

43] Thatch your roof before the rain begins

44] A wise man is never less alone than when alone

45] How who makes no mistakes, makes nothing.

46] Credit lost is like a Venice glass broken

47] The Pen is mightier than the sword

48] Lovers’ quarrels are soon mended

49] A guilty conscience feels continual fear

50] What has been, may be

51] Novelty always appears handsome

52] Health is better than wealth

53] It is courage that wins, and not good weapons

54] Sweet are the uses of adversity

55] A successful man is seldom at ease; a life of ease does not breed success

56] Jackdaw always perches by jackdaw.

57] Least said, soonest mended

58] Slander leaves a sc ore behind it

59] Time stays not for the fool’s leisure

60] If the father is spotted, the son will be speckled

61] It is ill striving against the stream

62] Love will find a way

63] You cannot have it both ways

64] To be discontented is to be like a snake trying to swallow an elephant

65] Constant dripping (or dropping) wears away the stone

66] Cowards die often. He that fears death lives not

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

68] Hunger is the best sauce

69] Vows made in storms are forgotten in calm

70] Envy shoots at others and wounds herself

71] Even fools sometimes speak to the purpose

72] The fowler’s pipe sounds sweet till the bird is caught.

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

74] It’s either not to begin or not to stop once you’ve begun

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

76] Every flow must have its ebb

77] Of three main roads, take the middle one

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

79] The weeds overgrow the corn.

80] If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well

81] It’s a long lane that has no turning

82] An open door may tempt a saint

83] Destroy the lion while he is yet but a whelp

84] Those near the temple deride the gods

85] High places have their precipices

86] No convenience without its inconvenience

87] III luck is good for something

88] Who keeps company with the wolf, will learn to howl

89] Leave well alone

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

91] The envious grow thin at others’ prosperity

92] The voice is the best music

93] The escaped mouse ever feels the taste of the bait.

94] Books and friends should be few but good

95] Extremity of right is wrong

96] Hunger finds no fault with the cookery

97] The poor sit on the front benches in Paradise

98] He who does not rise with the sun does not enjoy the day

99] Absence diminished little passions and increases great ones

100] A good heart conquers ill fortune