Famous Proverbs

1] Grin and bear it

2] Silence gives (or means) consent

3] A soft answer turns away wrath

4] The devil sometimes speaks the truth

5] Boys will be boys

6] Have patience with a friend rather than lost him forever.

7] When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then a gentleman?

8] Lookers-on see more than players

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

10] A stitch in time saves nine

11] The first step is the hardest

12] When things are at the worst, they begin to mend

13] The good die young.

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

15] Sickness shows us what we are

16] Don’t play with edged tools

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

18] The mills of God grind slowly but they grind exceedingly small

19] Point not at other’s spots with a foul finger

20] Pleasure has a sting in its tail

21] Take things as you find them

22] A man of courage never wants weapons

23] When fortune smiles, embrace her.

24] What is money to a cat?

25] Seldom seen, soon forgotten

26] Better a bare foot than none

27] Gold is tried in the fire

28] Nothing is as good as it seems before hand

29] Even water has its ebb and flow

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

31] Brute strength without reason falls of its own weight

32] Appetite comes with eating

33] The labour we delight in physics pain

34] A little impatience will spoil great plans

35] He freezes who does not burn

36] You eat, I dreams, the custard of the day

37] He that sings on Friday, will weep on Sunday

38] Stolen pleasures are sweetest

39] He who comes first, grinds first.

40] Put out your tubs when it is raining

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

42] Much science, much sorrow

43] If you would make an enemy, lend a man money and ask it of him again

44] The tide never goes out so far but it always comes in again

45] Truth has a good face but bad clothes

46] Gifts blind the eyes.

47] A sleepy master makes his servant a lout

48] Deliver your words not by number but by weight

49] Quarrels do not last long if the wrong is only on one side

50] Every beggar is descended from some king, and every king is descended from some beggar.

51] Words cut more than swords

52] The dancing girl who could not dance, said that the hall was not big enough.

53] Come with the wind, got with the water

54] Sweet are the uses of adversity

55] A fool may give a wise man counsel

56] Do as most men do, then most men well speak well of you

57] Facts are more eloquent than oratory

58] You see a man’s face but not his heart.

59] Excessive politeness is often a cloak for insincerity

60] It is easier to commend poverty than endure it.

61] Common fame is seldom to blame

62] Children have wide ears and long tongues.

63] Who is more busy than he that has least to do?

64] Neglect will kill an injury sooner than revenge

65] Bees that have honey in their mouths have stings in their tails.

66] Ill comes often on the back worse

67] Good advice is often annoying, bad advice never.

68] Every bean has its black

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

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

71] Steer not after every mariner’s direction

72] A barber learns to shave by shaving fools

73] What the king wills, that the law wills

74] A foolish man knows not the art of forgiveness

75] Master easy, servant slack

76] To the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. To a thirsty man any drink is sweet.

77] Home is home though it be never so homely

78] If you sing before breakfast, you’ll cry before night

79] Knowledge is the mother of all virtue; all vice proceeds from ignorance

80] Best is cheapest

81] If you would be well served, serve yourself

82] No pot so ugly as not to find a cover

83] God comes with leaden feet, but strikes with iron hands

84] Covetousness brings nothing home

85] He who serves is not free

86] Gold may be bought too dear

87] The dog that fetches, will carry.

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

89] Good luck beats early rising

90] Why keep a dog and bark yourself?

91] Children and chickens must be always picking

92] Rule youth well and age will rule itself

93] The devil knows many things because he is old

94] Hard words break no bones

95] Great gain makes easy work

96] He should have a long spoon who sups with the devil.

97] You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear

98] He who spends before he thrives will beg before he thinks

99] Enough is as good as a feast

100] Dry bread at home is better than roast meat abroad