Famous Proverbs

1] No sweet without sweat

2] A rich man’s joke is always funny

3] There is honour among thieves

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

5] Of a new prince, new bondage

6] Too long burden makes weary bones

7] Among the blind, the one-eyed man is king

8] Abundance, like want, ruins many

9] Give and spend, and God will send

10] He who begins many things, finishes but few

11] A great calligrapher isn’t choosy about his brushes.

12] Under the tongue, men are crushed to death

13] The grapes are sour’, as the fox said when he could not reach them

14] He that has lost his credit, is dead to the world

15] Might knows no right

16] Health and gaiety foster beauty.

17] From small beginnings come great things

18] Fortune knocks once at everyone’s door (or gate)

19] Four eyes see more than two

20] The darkest place is under the candlestick

21] Every shoe fits not every foot

22] God’s help is better than the early rising

23] All are not saints that go to church

24] You cannot skimp on the fodder and have an energetic horse.

25] White there’s life there’s hope

26] If one will not, another will

27] Better say noting than no to the purpose

28] The hand that gives, gathers

29] Lavishness is not generosity

30] Prospect is often better than possession

31] A little too late, is much too late

32] The highest branch is not the safest roost

33] Common fame is seldom to blame

34] You cannot have it both ways

35] At the game’s end we shall see who gains

36] Example is the greatest of all seducers

37] It is as well to know which way the wind blows

38] It is good sheltering under an old hedge

39] Hope is the last thing to abandon the unhappy

40] The devil dances in an empty pocket

41] He that does most at once, does least

42] Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay.

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

44] Fools live poor to die rich

45] A wise man changes his mind, a fool never.

46] Every man is the architect of his own fortune

47] More than enough is too much

48] If you play with fire you get burnt

49] One can’t go to bed when a visit or stays late

50] A burnt child dreads the fire

51] When the butcher has already killed your pig, it is useless to discuss with him the price

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

53] It signifies nothing to play well if you lose.

54] He that will not go over the stile, must be thrust through the gate

55] Exceptional bravery is often hidden under a cloak of timidity

56] Don’t cry stinking fish

57] Liars should have good memories

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

59] Keep something for a rainy day

60] The borrower is servant to the lender

61] A little impatience will spoil great plans

62] Little things please little minds

63] Do as you would be done by

64] See how the wind blows

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

66] Nothing seek, nothing find

67] Kind hearts are soonest wronged

68] Talk of an angel and you’ll hear the fluttering of his wings

69] It is the first step that is troublesome

70] Custom takes the taste from the most savoury dishes

71] The devil lurks behind the cross

72] Don’t ride the high horse

73] He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved

74] Death devours lambs as well as sheep

75] Fair is he that comes, but fairer is he that brings.

76] The lion had need of the mouse

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

78] Frugality is the mother of virtue

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

80] What is new cannot be true

81] Men are known by the company they keep.

82] Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t

83] Venture a small fish to catch a great one.

84] Nothing is easy to the unwilling

85] Spare the rod and spoil the child

86] Don’t cross the bridge before you get to it

87] Nothing is impossible to a willing heart

88] Three helping one another, bear the burthen of six

89] A true friend is forever a friend

90] Even dust, when piled up, may form a hill

91] Dirty water does not wash clean.

92] He who comes late must eat what is left

93] Seek and you shall find

94] Misery acquaints men with strange bedfellows

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

96] Destroy the lion while he is yet but a whelp

97] What is the mother of industry

98] Travel broadens the mind

99] Words bind men

100] Where there is no trust there is no love