Famous Proverbs

1] Beware of him who makes thee presents

2] The day obliterates the promise of the might

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

4] To speak as the common people, to think as the wise

5] There is no accounting for tastes

6] Hope deferred makes the heart sick

7] The wish is father to the thought

8] Dead dogs bark not

9] A bad workman always blames his tools

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

11] Do not wear out your welcome

12] Judge not of men and things at first sight

13] He who makes no mistakes makes nothing

14] Wrong has no warrant

15] It is good sheltering under an old hedge

16] The poorer one is, the more devils one meets

17] As you bake, so shall you eat.

18] Knowledge has bitter roots but sweet fruits

19] Save a thief from the gallows and he’ll cut your throat

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

21] Better be a fool than a knave

22] Three helping one another, bear the burthen of six.

23] Never was a cat or dog drowned, that could but see the shore

24] A hungry man smells meat afar off

25] Procrastination is the thief of time

26] Where every man is master, the world goes to wrack

27] Keep not ill men company, lest you increase the number

28] Hope springs eternal in the human heart

29] Necessity is mother of invention

30] If fools went not to market, bad wares would not be sold.

31] Poison is poison though it comes in a golden cup.

32] Death alone can kill hope

33] The absent saint gets no candle

34] The faulty stands on his guard

35] With patience and time, the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown

36] He that touches pitch shall be defiled

37] Practice is the science that gives confidence

38] Light grows the burden which is well borne

39] He should have (or He needs) a long spoon who sups with the devil

40] Truth may walk through the world unarmed

41] Dead men tell no tales

42] Asking costs little

43] Calamity is the touchstone of a brave mind

44] Now is now, and then was then

45] Thieves and rogues have the best luck, if they do but escape hanging

46] Better a louse in the pot than no flesh at all

47] Ale will make a cat speak

48] However much the arm may swing out, the armpit is where it sticks

49] If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

50] Promises may make friends, but it is performances that keep them

51] Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!

52] Who is more busy than he that has least to do?

53] Truth has a good face but bad clothes

54] No pain, no cure

55] Money is the sinew of affairs

56] A curse will not strike out an eye unless a fist goes with it

57] Give him (or knaves) an inch and he (they) will take a yard (or mile)

58] Better be safe than sorry

59] The wisest of the wise may err.

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

61] All’s fish that comes to the net

62] Everyone leaps over the dyke where it is lowest

63] One master in a house is enough

64] All are not thieves that dogs bark at

65] The devil’s children have the devil’s luck

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

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

68] Danger makes men devout

69] Discretion of speech is more than eloquence.

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

71] The devil’s children have the devil’s luck

72] What is the mother of industry

73] Paddle your own canoe

74] No tie can oblige the perfidious

75] Choose your neighbour before your house and your companion before the road.

76] If you pile up enough sand, you can make a pagoda

77] It is no use crying over spilt milk

78] Every advantage has its disadvantage

79] He that blows best, bears away the horn

80] Never catch a falling knife or a falling friend

81] Friendship should not be all on one side

82] He that gives his goods before he be dead, take up a mallet and knock him on the head

83] There is no tree but bears some fruit

84] In the end, things will mend

85] Do not cut down the tree that gives you shade

86] If you cannot bite never show your teeth

87] Silence is also speech

88] When we sing, everybody hears us; when sigh, nobody hears us

89] The whole boat is putrid because of a single carp

90] One today is worth two tomorrows

91] A guilty conscience feels continual fear

92] Many kiss the hand they wish to cut off

93] Pleasant hours fly past

94] With wealth, you are as grand as a dragon; without wealth you are as insignificant as a worm.

95] Beauty is only skin deep

96] When wrath speaks, wisdom veils her face.

97] Man punishes the action but God the intention

98] He that comes first to the hill, may sit where he will.

99] Courtesy is the inseparable companion of virtue

100] He that seeks trouble never misses