Famous Proverbs

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

2] A traveller may lie with authority

3] A bow long bent at last waxes weak

4] He loses his thanks who promises and delays

5] He who pays the piper calls the tune

6] A goose quill is more dangerous than a lion’s paw

7] The eye that sees all things else sees not itself

8] One sheep follows another

9] The more laws, the more offenders

10] Pleasant hours fly past

11] A ragged colt may make a good horse.

12] He that touches pitch shall be defiled

13] Those who are used to the signs of the dumb, understand them

14] Gold will not buy everything

15] The dog that is idle barks at his fleas, but he that is hunting feels them not.

16] A lion may come to be beholden to a mouse

17] Past cure, past care

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

19] None can guess the jewel by the casket

20] He has to do what is foul, never comes away clean

21] Adventures are to be adventurous

22] Remember, you are but a man

23] Wine unveils the words of the heart

24] Common fame is seldom to blame

25] Children pick up words as pigeons peas, and utter than again as god shall please

26] A barber learns to shave by shaving fools

27] To know the husband, observe the face of the wife

28] He that has a tongue in his head may find his way anywhere

29] When we have gold, we are in fear; when we have none we are in danger

30] God heals, and the physician takes the fee

31] The best is often the enemy of the good

32] Let us do evil that good may come

33] There are more foolish buyers than foolish sellers

34] The lion had need of the mouse

35] False friends are worse than bitter enemies.

36] Learn to walk before you run

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

38] From hearing, comes wisdom; from speaking, repentance

39] Pitchers have ears

40] You cannot catch old birds with chaff

41] Reputation is often got without merit, and lost without crime

42] Good goods are not cheap; cheap goods are not good

43] Jackdaw always perches by jackdaw.

44] There are more ways to kill a dog than hanging it.

45] Don’t cry stinking fish

46] When two elephants struggle, it is the grass that suffers

47] A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.

48] Better belly burst than good meat lost

49] Curiosity killed the cat.

50] The envious man shall never want woe

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

52] Knowledge humbles the great man, astonishes the common man and puffeth up the little man

53] Do as most men do, then most men well speak well of you

54] Haste trips up (or over) its own heels

55] Better are small fish than an empty dish

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

57] God helps those who help themselves

58] Vast chasms can be filled, but the heart of man never

59] Set a thief to catch a thief

60] A loveless life is a living death

61] He that praises himself, spatters himself

62] Health and wealth create beauty

63] At the end of the game, you’ll see who’s the winner

64] Jack would be a gentleman if he had money

65] The best things are hard to come by.

66] Honesty is the best policy

67] You eat, I dreams, the custard of the day

68] Through obedience learn to command.

69] Light burden I heavy if far borne

70] Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings

71] A living dog is better than a dead lion

72] The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it

73] Years know more than books

74] Weeds need no sowing

75] Nothing comes from nothing

76] Envy never enriched any man.

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

78] He who peeps through a hole, may see what will vex him

79] You cannot put an old head on young shoulders.

80] Never catch a falling knife or a falling friend

81] Comparisons make enemies of our friends.

82] Use makes mastery

83] Quietness is a great treasure

84] Idle folks have the least leisure

85] Repeat a piece of good advice three times and even a dog will be bored.

86] He who does not kill hogs, ill not get black puddings

87] When the word is out it belongs to another

88] Lookers-on see most of the game

89] Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know

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

91] Prevention is better than cure

92] Do unto others as they should do unto you

93] The proud will sooner lose than ask the way

94] Wise men learn by other men’s harm, fools, by their own

95] When it rains porridge, the beggar has no spoon.

96] Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth

97] Money isn’t everything

98] Don’t play with fire

99] A good servant must have good wages

100] Many eyes upon the king