Famous Proverbs

1] Great oaks from little acorns grow

2] A good horse cannot wear two saddles

3] Think on the end before you begin

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

5] A change is as good as rest

6] To err is human; to forgive, divine

7] Beauty is but skin-deep

8] Where there is peace, God is

9] Every little helps

10] A fool is ever dancing on the tip of his tongue

11] Make the best of a bad job

12] Soft fire makes sweet malt

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

14] Love and business teach eloquence

15] He that flings dirt at another dirtieth himself most

16] There is truth in wine

17] One is what one eats

18] Pleasure has a sting in its tail

19] Debt is an evil conscience

20] If you want peace, prepare for war

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

22] Vice is often clothed in virtue’s habit

23] Beauty is only skin deep

24] Pitchers have ears

25] Ugly women finely dressed, are the uglier for it.

26] Beware of no man more than himself

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

28] The kind-hearted person has a heavy load.

29] Goods that are much on show lose their colour

30] The bread never falls but on its buttered side

31] Hunger is the best sauce

32] Possibilities are infinite

33] The best things carried to excess are wrong

34] Pride is the mask of one’s own faults

35] All roads lead to Rome

36] Common fame is a liar

37] The thief doth fear each bush an offer

38] Give a servant a rod, and he’ll beat his master

39] Love can find a way

40] Save your breath to cool the porridge

41] Don’t quarrel with your bread and buffer

42] If you have bread, don’t look for cake

43] Keep no more cats than will catch mice

44] If you would wed fitly, wed in your station

45] Do it now

46] Better the last smile than the first laugh

47] Even a worm will turn

48] There is no garden without its weeds

49] He that is fallen cannot help him that is down

50] All meat No dish pleases all palates alike pleases not all mouths

51] Even a clever wife cannot prepare a meal when there is no food

52] It is as natural to die as to be born

53] The golden age was never the present age

54] Honest men marry soon, wise men not at all

55] Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

56] Good counsel never comes amiss

57] Love is a disease, and the loved on is the only medicine

58] Wine does not intoxicate men; men intoxicate themselves

59] He may find fault that cannot mend

60] Of thy sorrow be not too sad, of thy joy be not too glad

61] Much science, much sorrow

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

63] Lovers’ quarrels are soon mended

64] Honey catches more files than vinegar.

65] He that forecasts all perils will never sail the sea

66] All men are mortal

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

68] He who can does. He who cannot teaches

69] Extreme justice is extreme injustice.

70] Only a fool will make the doctor his heir

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

72] That which proves too much proves nothing

73] A thing of beauty is a joy forever

74] Money gives a bold front: it doesn’t talk – it screams

75] Better never begin than never make an end

76] Every cloud has a silver lining

77] No remedy but patience

78] He laughs best who laughs last

79] Least said, soonest mended

80] Every commodity has its discommodity

81] He that is fallen cannot help him that is down

82] Good fame is better than a good face

83] Poor men’s words have little weight

84] Live not to eat, but eat to live

85] Long tarrying takes all the thanks away

86] Mercy to the criminal may be cruelty to the people

87] You can’t take it with you when you die

88] A man must plough with such oxen as he has

89] He who owes is in all the wrong

90] A thief knows a thief knows a thief as a wolf knows a wolf

91] There is nothing that costs less than civility

92] Don’t empty (or throw) the baby out with the bath water

93] If you trust before you try, you may repent before you die

94] It is ill jesting with edged tools

95] When children stand quiet, they have done some ill.

96] Why keep a dog and bark yourself?

97] No one betrays himself by silence

98] Sour, sweet, bitter and pungent flavours must all be tasted

99] The unexpected always happens.

100] Nature does nothing in vain