Famous Proverbs

1] He that brings good news, knocks hard

2] Rip not up old sores

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

4] A single filament of silk does not make a thread; a single tree does not make a forest

5] The money you refuse will never do you good

6] A good anvil does not fear the hammer

7] Even the grubs in the rocks manage to survive

8] If an ass goes a – traveling, he’ll not come home a horse

9] Better do a kindness near home than go to a temple far away to burn incense.

10] Out of debt, out of danger

11] Tell the truth and shame the devil

12] Every man for himself, and God for us all.

13] Names and natures do often agree

14] You cannot sell the cow and sup the milk

15] In haste is error

16] Even silence may be eloquent

17] In haste is error

18] The bird is known by his note, the man by his words

19] Ambition makes people diligent

20] Ill comes often on the back worse

21] Health and wealth create beauty

22] Every man has his price

23] They are rich who have true friends

24] Never spend your money before you have it

25] He who rouses a sleeping tiger exposes himself to danger

26] Have but few friends, though many acquaintances

27] Hope is grief’s best music

28] Half an egg is better than empty shell

29] Golden lads and girls all must, as chimney-sweepers, come to dust

30] Time lost cannot be recalled

31] All doors open to courtesy

32] True doctrines require no miracles

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

34] Better a lean peace than a fat victory

35] It is misery enough to have once been happy

36] Long tarrying takes all the thanks away

37] Content is the philosopher’s stone that turns all it touches in to gold

38] Drunkards and fools cannot lie.

39] A pot that belongs to many is ill stirred and worse boiled

40] Bells call others, but themselves enter not in to the church

41] Virtue is a jewel of great price.

42] A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

43] No honest man ever repented his honesty

44] He that once deceives, is ever suspected

45] An evil life is a kind of death.

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

47] Arms bend inwards – not outwards.

48] He knows most who speaks least

49] The deed comes back upon the doer.

50] Every man for himself, and God for us all.

51] Patience is the remedy of the world

52] There’s no place like home

53] An ill tongue may do much

54] Nature abhors a vacuum

55] The more you have the more you want

56] What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh

57] What’s done is done

58] Years know more than books

59] Poor men go to heaven as soon as rich

60] He learned timely to beg that could not say ‘Nay’

61] Better learn late than never

62] Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them

63] An open door may tempt a saint

64] Praises fill not the belly

65] Strike while the iron is hot

66] He that has nothing need fear to lose nothing

67] Nothing is given so freely as advice

68] One is what one eats

69] Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

70] It is a good tongue that says no ill, and a better heart that thinks none

71] A rich man’s joke is always funny

72] He laughs best who laughs last

73] Idleness is the root of all evil

74] He has not lost all who has one cast left

75] Hunger is sharper than the sword

76] The devil is not as black as he is painted

77] Each day brings its own bread

78] The envious man shall never want woe

79] Ask no question and you’ll be told no lies

80] A gentleman never remembers unkindness shown towards him

81] One barber shaves another gratis

82] They bow to you when borrowing; you bow to them when collecting

83] No man so good but another may be as good as he

84] There is a time to speak and a time to be silent

85] All things require skills but an appetite

86] He that will not endure to itch must endure to smart

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

88] Nothing is so certain as death

89] Love delights in praise

90] He laughs ill that laughs himself to death

91] More than enough is too much

92] He that flings dirt at another dirtieth himself most

93] Gluttony kills more than the sword

94] Nothing venture (or ventured), nothing gain (or gained)

95] Lookers-on see more than players

96] The calmest husbands make the stormiest wives

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

98] The good intention excuses the bad action

99] A great city, a great solitude

100] Much babbling is not without offence