Famous Proverbs

1] Seek and you shall find

2] He who handles a nettle tenderly is soonest stung

3] Claw me, and I’ll claw thee

4] He that would eat the kernel must crack the nut

5] It is profound ignorance that inspires the dogmatic tone

6] Don’t burn the candle at both ends

7] Will without reason is blind, and against reason, is mad

8] The more laws, the more offenders

9] Dead men don’t bite

10] Pouring oil on the fire is not the way to quench it

11] After dinner sit a while, after supper walk a mile.

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

13] One needs a full stomach to keep the precepts

14] Anything will fit a naked man.

15] Some are wise and some are otherwise

16] Ill news comes apace.

17] Habits are at first cobwebs, at last cables

18] Books and friends should be few but good

19] Friendship should not be all on one

20] A door must be either shut or open

21] He that brings good news, knocks hard

22] Threatened folk live long

23] Calamity is man’s true touchstone

24] Barking dogs seldom bite

25] The early man ever borrows from the late man

26] Names are debts

27] When fortune smiles, embrace her.

28] A cat may look at a king

29] After a storm comes a calm

30] To err is human; to forgive, divine

31] The hand that gives, gathers

32] Prospect is often better than possession

33] The early bird catches the worm

34] Armies are maintained for years to be used on a single day.

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

36] When the ear will not listen, the heart escapes sorrow

37] Words bind men

38] Good counsel never comes amiss

39] Don’t make a mountain out of molehill

40] Often and little eating makes a man fat

41] Many irons in the fire, some must cool

42] It is easier to praise poverty than to bear it.

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

44] The peony, though large, is useless; the date blossom, though small, yields fruit

45] Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched

46] If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must go to the mountain.

47] Jack would be a gentleman if he had money

48] Fingers were made before forks

49] To be discontented is to be like a snake trying to swallow an elephant

50] The bird is known by his note, the man by his words

51] Good ware makes quick market

52] The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

53] An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

54] Trust is dead-ill payment killed it.

55] The first blow is half the battle

56] God’ s mill grids slow but sure

57] The longest night will have an end

58] Everyone to his taste

59] Be still and have thy will

60] The best is often the enemy of the good

61] An ill payer (or paymaster) never wants an excuse

62] Have two strings to your bow

63] Virtue and happiness are mother and daughter

64] Vice is often clothed in virtue’s habit

65] He that serves well need not be afraid to ask his wages

66] Corn him well and he will work better

67] Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise

68] Might is right

69] He who teaches learns

70] It is easier to praise poverty than to bear it.

71] Better an open enemy than a false friend

72] The little cannot be great unless he devours many

73] A thousand cranes in the air are not worth one sparrow in the fist.

74] He that boasts of his own knowledge proclaims his ignorance

75] Art improves Nature

76] Do as the friar says, not as he does

77] Take heed is a fair thing

78] Truth may walk through the world unarmed

79] Never judge from appearances

80] He that lends, gives

81] Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise

82] Sparrows who emulate peacocks are likely to break a thigh

83] Pleasant hours fly past

84] Too much money makes one mad

85] He who demands does not command

86] Mount Fuji itself is not So beautiful to one who is cold and hungry

87] All doors open to courtesy

88] What is told in the ear of a man is often heard a hundred miles away

89] Good clothes open all doors

90] Take heed is a fair thing

91] One may change the place but not the mind.

92] Error cannot be defended but by error

93] Nothing is given so freely as advice

94] It is the unexpected that always happens

95] Wife and Children are bills of charges

96] Revenge is sweet

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

98] Few words are best

99] The darkest place is under the candlestick

100] Knowledge has bitter roots but sweet fruits