Famous Proverbs

1] The exception proves the rule

2] God never sends mouths but he sent meat

3] No misfortune will go on forever

4] To teach is to learn twice over

5] The hunchback does not see his own hump, but his companion’s

6] I saw few die of hunger; of eating, a hundred thousand.

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

8] Make not your sauce, before you have caught the fish.

9] The longest night will have an end

10] A friend is easier lost than found

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

12] Catch not at the shadow and lose the substance

13] Time flies

14] Poor folk fare the best

15] An old ox makes a straight furrow

16] He who would hang his dog gives out first that it is mad

17] Tell a lie and stick to it.

18] Naturally the same beans from the same bin.

19] Ask, and it shall be given to you.

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

21] It is a blind goose that comes to the fox’s sermon

22] Don’t change horses in mid-stream

23] III counsel mars all

24] It is ill sitting at Rome and striving against the pope

25] That which is easily done is soon believed

26] Do as I say, not as I do

27] One good deed makes up for a thousand bad ones.

28] Brave actions never want a trumpet.

29] The eye is bigger than the belly

30] Help a lame dog over a stile

31] If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite

32] A contented mind is a perpetual feast

33] Suffering does not manifest itself

34] A fault once denied is twice committed

35] All is fair in love and war

36] Make haste slowly

37] Whether the pitcher strikes the stone, or the stone the pitcher, it is bad for the pitcher

38] Why play the harp to a buffalo?

39] He that is afraid of bad luck will never know good.

40] As you bake, so shall you eat.

41] He that asks faintly begs a denial.

42] Cast not the first stone.

43] Too much curiosity lost paradise

44] Hazard not your wealth on a poor man’s advice

45] Ill luck is good for something

46] No matter how much perfume you put on an onion, it will still emit a bad smell.

47] If wishes were horses, beggars would ride (or might ride)

48] A loveless life is a living death

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

50] Kick a tone in anger, and you will hurt your own feet

51] The thing which is rare is dear

52] He that will thrive must rise at five

53] You must lose a fly to catch a trout

54] Virtue is praised by all, but practiced by few

55] Of the ten fingers, some are long and some are short.

56] First things first

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

58] Variety is the spice of life

59] He who hesitates is lost

60] Children should be seen and not heard

61] A cat has nine lives

62] Wine uncloaks the words of the heart

63] A fool’s bolt may sometimes hit the mark

64] He loses his thanks who promises and delays

65] Files are easier caught with honey than with vinegar

66] An account is an account, and a brother a brother.

67] Familiarity breeds contempt

68] Love rules without a sword, and binds without a cord

69] Don’t cry for the moon

70] The longest (or farthest) way round is the nearest (or shortest) way home.

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

72] The love of money is the root of all evil

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

74] The tongue is more to be feared than the sword

75] Diligence is the mother of good fortune

76] Of two evils choose the lesser

77] He that is afraid of bad luck will never know good.

78] It is easier to get a favour from fortune than to keep it

79] Do not halloo till you are out of the wood

80] What’s done cannot be undone

81] Don’t have too many irons in the fire

82] All things are possible with god

83] You cannot sell the cow and sup (or drink) the milk

84] Lavishness is not generosity

85] He knows on which side his bread is buttered

86] Even Homer sometimes nods

87] The game is not worth the candle

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

89] It is ill striving (or swimming) against the stream (or tide)

90] Lend only that which you can afford to lose

91] You cannot serve God and Mammon

92] Better a good cow than a cow of a good kind

93] Moderation in all things

94] Envy never enriched any man.

95] All’s grist that comes to the mill.

96] He who serves is not free

97] Blue are the far away hills

98] He who says what he likes shall hear what he does not like

99] He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow

100] Wise men are caught in wiles