Famous Proverbs

1] The first blow is half the battle

2] Men count up the faults of those who keep them waiting

3] Patience is the remedy of the world

4] Needs must when the evil drives

5] The fine pullet shows its excellence from the egg.

6] Money is the sinew of affairs

7] Green leaves enhance the charm of the peony flower

8] Vice is often clothed in virtue’s habit

9] Catch not at the shadow and lose the substance

10] Every horse thinks its own pack heaviest

11] Hear twice before you speak once

12] He who makes no mistakes makes nothing

13] When you drink water from the stream, don’t forget that the source of it is the spring

14] Eat an apple going to bed, make the doctor beg his bread.

15] The eye is bigger than the belly

16] A wise man is never less alone than when alone

17] A good name is better than riches

18] Dirty linen should be washed at home

19] Life begins only in success

20] Words have wings, and cannot be recalled

21] Water far away will not extinguish a fire that is nearby; relatives far from you are not as good as neighbours close to you.

22] Time stays not for the fool’s leisure

23] Under the tongue, men are crushed to death

24] A tiger that roars is not a man-eater

25] The time to come is no more ours than the time past

26] A man has choice to begin love, but not to end it.

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

28] It costs more to do ill than to do well

29] The Friar Preached against stealing and had a goose in his sleeve

30] What’s done is done

31] Good to begin well, better to end well.

32] Nature does nothing in vain

33] Every man must carry his own cross

34] Wrong has no warrant

35] It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good

36] There is many a good tune played on an old fiddle

37] If anything can go wrong, it will

38] Who errs and mends, to god himself commends

39] If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas

40] If the thorn falls, the leaf is pierced; if the leaf falls the leaf is pierced

41] Success has many friends

42] Marriage halves our griefs, doubles our joys and quadruples our expenses

43] It is better to conceal one’s knowledge than to reveal one’s ignorance

44] Hope often deludes the foolish man

45] Little and often fills the purse

46] He that mischief hatches mischief catches.

47] It is more blessed to give than to receive

48] A little help is worth a deal of pity

49] Live and Learn

50] Every dog is valiant at his won door

51] Much travel is needed to ripen a man’s rawness

52] An ill wound is cured, not an ill name

53] No man is born wise or learned

54] If the cap fits, wear it

55] Human blood is all of a colour

56] A strong town is not won in an hour

57] A foolish man knows not the art of forgiveness

58] Cloudy mornings turn to clear afternoons

59] No choice amongst stinking fish

60] Divine grace was never slow

61] Might knows no right

62] The fire which warms us a distance will burn us when near

63] The unexpected always happens.

64] A man may bear till his back breaks

65] The higher the mountain, the greater the descent

66] The ass that brays most eats

67] As you make your bed, you must lie on it

68] Rule youth well and age will rule itself

69] Weak things united become strong

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

71] Praise is a spur to the good, a thorn to the evil

72] The ass loaded with gold still eats thistles

73] If you pay not a servant his wages, he will pay himself

74] Cut your coat according to your cloth

75] All truths are not to be told

76] Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still

77] A thing of beauty is a joy forever

78] The biter is sometimes bit

79] We shall lie all alike in our graves

80] The difficult is done at once; the impossible takes a little longer

81] It is the bridle and spur that makes a good horse

82] Walls have ears

83] Nothing crave, nothing have

84] The time to come is no more ours than the time past

85] Punishment is a cripple, but it arrives

86] When a man is happy, he does not hear the clock strike

87] Many kiss the hand they wish to cut off

88] Forbidden fruit is sweetest

89] The cowl does not make the monk.

90] III counsel mars all

91] At a good bargain thinks twice

92] A good heart cannot lie.

93] Take away fuel, take away flame

94] If there is no wind, the trees will not move

95] There is safety in numbers

96] The sun shines upon all alike.

97] Sometimes clemency is cruelty, and cruelty clemency

98] Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof

99] A creaking gate (or door) hangs long

100] A man apt to promise, is apt to forget