Famous Proverbs

1] Out of the frying-pan into the fire

2] First try and then trust

3] The biter is sometimes bit

4] A penny saved is a penny gained

5] Never try to prove what nobody doubts

6] Needs must when the devil drives

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

8] Do not halloo till you are out of the wood

9] The cat shuts its eyes while it steals cream

10] An honorable man would rather be a chicken’s beak than the rump of an ox.

11] A good paymaster needs no surety

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

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

14] Wedlock is padlock

15] A word spoken is past recalling

16] Better are small fish than an empty dish

17] He who works before dawn will soon be his own master

18] The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man

19] Plain dealing is a jewel, but they that use it die beggars

20] Through indecision, opportunity is often lost.

21] Every dog has his (its) day

22] An ill paymaster never wants excuse

23] God gave us the seed of every plant, but we must sow it.

24] Money breeds (or makes, or begets) money

25] Nothing is certain but the unforeseen

26] The cobbler should stick to his last

27] Clothes do not make the man

28] The darkest hour is that before the dawn

29] Little things are pretty

30] Give a dog a bad name and hang him

31] Ill news comes apace.

32] Content lodges oftener in cottages than palaces

33] Children should be seen and not heard

34] Love turns pimples

35] Too far east is west

36] When we have gold, we are in fear; when we have none we are in danger

37] Bad excuses are worse than none.

38] Sadness and happiness succeed each other.

39] Experience without learning is better than learning without experience

40] Soon hot, soon cold

41] He that will steal an egg, will steal an ox

42] Every groom is a king at home

43] The borrower is servant to the lender

44] The thief doth fear each bush an offer

45] Don’t have too many irons in the fire

46] Best is cheapest

47] Better late than never, but better never late

48] One man’s loss is another’s gain

49] Friendship cannot stand always on one side

50] The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts

51] Conscience does make cowards of us all

52] Hasty work, double work,

53] Accusing the times is but excusing ourselves.

54] The rotten apple injures its neighbours.

55] Still waters run deep

56] If the lad goes to the well against his will, either the can will break or the water will spill

57] He who squeezes in between the onion and the peel, picks up its stink.

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

59] Other times, other manners

60] Don’t cast your pearls before swine

61] He that comes of a hen, must scrape

62] Every dog has his (its) day

63] Every flow must have its ebb

64] Money is power

65] There is no tree but bears some fruit

66] There are more ways to the wood than one.

67] Wise men do not argue with idiots

68] One reason is as good as fifty

69] If you cannot bite never show your teeth

70] A thief knows a thief knows a thief as a wolf knows a wolf

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

72] Nothing is impossible to a willing heart

73] It is poor dog that is not worth the whistling

74] A good wife and health is a man’s best wealth

75] The cowl does not make the monk.

76] The devil dances in an empty pocket

77] Be careful to whom you give

78] Tigers and deer do not over.

79] A man may say too much, even up on the best subjects

80] Many irons in the fire, some must cool

81] Everyone leaps over the dyke where it is lowest

82] He that is born a fool is never cured

83] Everyone puts his fault on the times.

84] Hunger finds no fault with the cookery

85] Health is great riches

86] Fool rush in where angels fear to trend

87] An old dog barks not in vain

88] The orange that is too hard squeezed yields a bitter juice

89] Don’t wear out (or outstay) your welcome

90] Poor men seek meat for their stomach; rich men stomach for their meat.

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

92] He who sits in the well to observe the sky does not see very much.

93] Many doctors, death accomplished

94] Life begins only in success

95] A bad workman quarrels with his tools.

96] He that has a wife, has strife

97] Finger were made before forks, and hands before knives

98] Where there’s a will there’s a way

99] Fortune favours those who use their judgement

100] A thousand cranes in the air are not worth one sparrow in the fist.