Famous Proverbs

1] The greatest talkers are the least doers

2] One man’s means another man’s poison

3] Silence and thinking can no man offend

4] A sleepy master makes his servant a lout

5] All things are difficult before they are easy

6] What cannot gold do?

7] Not lock will hold against the power of gold

8] The longest way round is the shortest way home

9] There is plenty of sound in an empty barrel

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

11] You cannot sell the cow and sup the milk

12] The early man ever borrows from the late man

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

14] A good heart cannot lie.

15] Comfort is not known if poverty does not come before it

16] Dogs bite twice those who wear ragged clothes.

17] Honey is sweet, but the bee stings

18] What the fool does in the end, the wise man does at the beginning

19] There is more than one way to skin a cat.

20] He who can does. He who cannot teaches

21] Haste is of (or from) the devil

22] He that the devil drives, feels no lead at his heels

23] Riches along make no men happy

24] Advice is something the wise don’t need and fools won’t take

25] If you want peace, prepare for war

26] He that hath a wife and children hath given hostages to fortune

27] Even the lion must defend itself against flies

28] You cannot put a quart into a pint pot

29] A bow long bent at last waxes weak

30] Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof

31] He who gives to the unworthy loses doubly

32] He that mischief hatches mischief catches.

33] Better ask the way than go astray

34] The best is often the enemy of the good

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

36] Better sit still than rise and fall

37] Share and share alike

38] He that will eat the kernel, must crack the nut

39] A good payer is master of another’s purse

40] Success has many friends

41] Nothing is so certain as death

42] If you have bread, don’t look for cake

43] Ill gotten, ill spent

44] Fortune favours the brave (or bold).

45] Travel makes a wise man better, but a fool worse

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

47] Past cure, past care

48] Precept begins, examples accomplish

49] Much learning makes men mad

50] He that burns most, shines most

51] He who rides on a tiger can never dismount

52] He who cannot put up with extreme hardship cannot be the best among men

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

54] A bully never grows up.

55] Give the devil his due

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

57] A good friend is my nearest relation

58] There is no royal road to learning

59] Nothing is as good as it seems before hand

60] There is no rose without a thorn

61] Discretion of speech is more than eloquence.

62] There is a black sheep in every flock

63] All glory comes from daring to begin

64] Practice what you preach

65] Go not to hell for company

66] Long life has long misery

67] A fool may give a wise counsel. A fool’s bolt may sometimes hit the mark.

68] All’s well that ends well

69] She’s her father’s (or mother’s) daughter

70] Six feet of earth make all men equal

71] Life means strife

72] Nothing succeeds like success

73] Virtue carries a lean purse

74] Poor men’s words have little weight

75] Some have been thought brave because they are afraid to run away

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

77] He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow

78] Still waters run deep

79] Where bad’s the best, bad must be the choice

80] A penny saved is a penny gained

81] A liar can go round the world but cannot come back

82] Don’t judge any man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.

83] When two tigers fight, one is sure to be hurt

84] Sorrow will pay no debt

85] Strings high stretched either soon crack or quickly grow out of tune.

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

87] The envious grow thin at others’ prosperity

88] Danger makes men devout

89] Confess and be hanged

90] Open a book and you profit by what you read

91] Loyalty is worth more than money

92] He who would catch fish must not mind getting wet.

93] The soldier who retreated fifty paces laughed at the one who had fallen back a hundred paces

94] Words are but wind

95] A fair face may hide a foul heart.

96] It is courage that wins, and not good weapons

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

98] A cheerful wife is the joy of life

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

100] When the word is out it belongs to another