Famous Proverbs

1] He wants both the flour and the cake that it makes

2] Good riding at two anchors, men have told, for if one breaks the other may hold

3] It is no use spoiling the ship for a half penny worth of tar

4] Nature abhors a vacuum

5] Dying men speak true

6] The sun shines upon all alike.

7] It is not gay coat that makes the gentleman

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

9] Sparrows who emulate peacocks are likely to break a thigh

10] Variety is the spice of life

11] The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

12] What’s the good of thatching someone else’s roof?

13] Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

14] Step by step the ladder is ascended

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

16] Gossiping and lying go together

17] He who owes is in all the wrong

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

19] Let an ill man lie in the straw and he looks to be thy heir

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

21] One sword keeps another in the sheath

22] We live laws, not by examples

23] The wisest of the wise may err.

24] Health without money is half an ague

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

26] Good goods are not cheap; cheap goods are not good

27] Anger without power is folly

28] The devil dances in an empty pocket

29] Bad excuses are worse than none.

30] No, thank you’ has lost you many a good butter-cake

31] Giving much to the poor, doth enrich a man’s store.

32] Long roads test the horse; long dealings test the friend

33] Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny

34] However much the arm may swing out, the armpit is where it sticks

35] Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage

36] One is never too old to learn

37] Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings

38] He that will thrive, must rise at five; he that has thriven, may lie till seven; but he that will never thrive may lie till eleven

39] Every why has a wherefore

40] Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

41] An angry man is not fit to pray

42] Step by step the ladder is ascended

43] Money is power

44] Great actions speak minds

45] Empty vessels make the most sound

46] Know your own faults before blaming others for theirs.

47] When good cheer is lacking, our friends will be packing

48] Love cannot be compelled

49] He who wills the end, Wills the means

50] A fool at forty is a fool indeed

51] Accusing the times is but excusing ourselves.

52] Tender-handed stroke a nettle, and it stings you for your pain: grasp it like a man of mettle, and it soft as silk remains

53] Example is the greatest of all seducers

54] Long roads test the horse; long dealings test the friend

55] Mustard is a good sauce, but mirth is better

56] Don’t swap horses while crossing a stream

57] He that eats least eats most

58] Give us the tools, and we will finish the job

59] Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know

60] Keep not ill men company, lest you increase the number

61] If the cap fits, wear it

62] He that compiles against his will, is of his own opinion still

63] Slow help is no help

64] The flesh is aye fairest that is farthest from the bone

65] He that the devil drives, feels no lead at his heels

66] They can do least two boast loudest

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

68] Fish and guests smell in three days

69] Do not kick against the pricks

70] I may not have tasted their flesh but I’ve seen enough to know how pigs walk

71] Everything would fain live

72] The least boy always carries the greatest fiddle

73] If your can’t help friend with money, help him at least with a sigh

74] Jesters do oft prove prophets

75] Each day brings its own bread

76] Better at home than a mile from it

77] Who suffers much is silent

78] A stitch in time saves nine

79] Names are debts

80] Don’t quarrel with your bread and buffer

81] Silence is golden

82] Great minds think alike

83] The bait hides the hook

84] He mediates revenge who least complains.

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

86] There is no rose without a thorn

87] He that is born a fool is never cured

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

89] Habits are at first cobwebs, at last cables

90] It’s hard to get one’s own sword back when it’s in someone else’s scabbard

91] It is easier to get a favour from fortune than to keep it

92] The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

93] There’s a black sheep in every flock

94] Wherever an ass falls, there will he never fall again

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

96] All meat pleases not all mouths

97] Exchange (or Fair exchange) is no robbery

98] Ready money is ready medicine

99] Better belly burst than good meat lost

100] If the doctor cures, the sun sees it; but if he kills, the earth hides it.