Famous Proverbs

1] What everybody says must be true

2] The envious man shall never want woe

3] An ape’s an ape, a varlet’s a varlet, though they be clad in silk or scarlet

4] Creditors have better memories than debtors

5] The worth of a thing is what it will bring

6] Misfortune makes foes of friends

7] An ill paymaster never wants excuse

8] Better be born lucky than wise.

9] Money is the only monarch

10] Let another’s shipwreck be you sea-mark.

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

12] A joke never gains over an enemy, but often loses a friend

13] Man punishes the action but God the intention

14] He is not poor that has little, but he that desires much

15] Call a spade a spade

16] He that does most at once, does least

17] No pain, no cure

18] A long tongue is a sign of a short hand

19] No man is the worse for knowing the worst of himself

20] Excessive happiness produces pain

21] He who leaps high must take a long run

22] Ill gotten, ill spent

23] The most high Good sees and bears; me neighbour knows, nothing, and yet is always finding fault.

24] Valour would fight, but discretion would run away

25] To teach is to learn twice over

26] Money has no smell

27] If youth knew what age would crave. It would both get and save

28] Who errs and mends, to god himself commends

29] Sow thin and mow thin

30] Deliver your words not by number but by weight

31] Great gain makes easy work

32] It’s a silly fish that is caught twice with the same bait.

33] A guilty conscience needs no accuser

34] All’s fish that comes to the net

35] Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

36] Barking dogs seldom bite

37] Think not on what you lack as much as what you have

38] He that praises himself, spatters himself

39] Where there is peace, there is blessing

40] We soon believe what we desire

41] The devil sometimes speaks the truth

42] Talk of the devil, and he is bound to appear

43] More than enough is too much

44] He that would have eggs must endure the cackling of hens

45] Half a loaf is better than do bread

46] Four eyes see better than two.

47] Use the means, and God will give the blessings

48] A new broom sweeps clean, but the old brush knows all the corners

49] It is useless to flog a dead horse

50] The dog is a lion in his own house

51] Friendship is a plant which must be often watered

52] Self do, self have

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

54] One man’s loss is another’s gain

55] The fairest silk is soonest stained

56] He knows on which side his bread is buttered

57] The borrower is servant to the lender

58] Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches

59] Happy is the country (or nation) that has no history

60] A good beginning is half the battle.

61] Pardoning the bad is injuring the good

62] In fair weather prepare for foul

63] He that has no shame has no conscience

64] When two men look after a horse, it will surely be thin; when two families keep a boat, it will surely leak

65] Don’t bargain for fish which are still in the water

66] Good counsel has no price. Nothing is given so freely as advice.

67] Sometimes clemency is cruelty, and cruelty clemency

68] Praise no man till he is dead.

69] Birds of a feather flock together

70] A miss is as good as a mile

71] Long tarrying takes all the thanks away

72] The best things are hard to come by.

73] Wise men silent, fools talk

74] The great would have none great, and the little all little

75] He knows which side his bread is buttered

76] Wine does not intoxicate men; men intoxicate themselves

77] Truth is stranger than fiction

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

79] Even the compelling beauty of the Diamond Mountain cannot be appreciated when the stomach is empty

80] Opportunity seldom knocks twice

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

82] A short cut is often a wrong cut

83] It is easy to bear the misfortunes of others

84] A man’s discontent is his worst evil

85] Union is strength.

86] Many eyes upon the king

87] A beggar can never be bankrupt

88] There are more ways to kill a dog than hanging it.

89] Every lot is to be overcome by endurance

90] One good turn deserves another

91] He that keeps not crust not crumb, shall ever want some

92] Better no doctor at all than three.

93] Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee.

94] A good wife is a good prize

95] A beggar can never be bankrupt

96] Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory

97] A good name is better than riches

98] Every man has his price

99] Tempt not a desperate man

100] Muck and money go together