Famous Proverbs

1] Better some of a pudding than none of a pie.

2] Every deed is to be judges by the doer’s intention.

3] Go while the going is good

4] A joke’s a very serious thing

5] Needs must when the evil drives

6] He that flings dirt at another dirtieth himself most

7] Set a wolf to keep the sheep

8] If you wish to die young, make your physician your heir

9] Waste makes wants

10] No wrong without a remedy

11] The healthful man can give counsel to the sick

12] He is not fit to command others, that cannot command himself

13] A deaf husband and a blind wife are always a happy couple

14] A useful trade is a mine of gold

15] What you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts

16] Wives must be had, be they good or bad

17] A scalded cat fears hot water.

18] The longest way round is the shortest way home

19] Content is more than a kingdom

20] Bold resolution is the favourite of providence

21] Even Homer sometimes nods

22] Pinch the right thigh and the left will feel the pain too.

23] If fortune turns against you, even jelly breaks your tooth

24] No tie can oblige the perfidious

25] Soon learnt, soon forgotten

26] Tomorrow never comes

27] The best things come in small packages

28] Dog does not eat dog

29] A man is valued as he makes himself valuable

30] Threatened folk live long

31] Bread is the staff of life.

32] If things were to be done twice, all would be wise.

33] Giving much to the poor, doth enrich a man’s store.

34] He’s his father’s (or mother’s) son

35] Prospect is often better than possession

36] Give the devil his due

37] Necessity is a powerful weapon

38] A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice

39] Judge not of men and things at first sight

40] Fine words dress ill deeds

41] He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs

42] Jackdaw always perches by jackdaw.

43] Praise without profit puts little in the pot

44] The hero appears only when the tiger is dead

45] A man of courage never wants weapons

46] He that loses anything and gets wisdom by it is a gainer by the loss

47] To study a great deal is to acquire a priceless treasure

48] Worse things happen at sea

49] A man’s mother is his other God

50] When a fool is sent to market, the storekeepers rejoice

51] There is nothing lost by civility

52] God arms the harmless

53] He that will not go over the stile, must be thrust through the gate

54] When you are an anvil, hold still; when you are an anvil, hold still; when you are a hammer, strike your fill.

55] Like mother, like daughter

56] Take the will for the deed

57] Things are seldom what they seem.

58] Be not too bold with your biggers or betters

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

60] If you always say ‘No’, you’ll never get married

61] An honorable man would rather be a chicken’s beak than the rump of an ox.

62] Half a word is enough for a wise man

63] One hand washes the other

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

65] Confide in an aunt and the world will know

66] No bees, no honey’, that sweetness will come in to the mouth

67] Ale will make a cat speak

68] Better an egg in peace than an ox in war

69] Better be born lucky than wise.

70] The envious grow thin at others’ prosperity

71] Early sow, early mow

72] Alms never make poor

73] Win a good reputation, and sleep at your ease

74] One good turn deserves another

75] Shame arises more from fear of men than of God

76] Cheats never prosper

77] Exceptional bravery is often hidden under a cloak of timidity

78] Not even Hercules could contend against two

79] No man is the worse for knowing the worst of himself

80] After a storm comes a calm

81] Lend your money and lose a friend

82] The bread never falls but on its buttered side

83] Tomorrow is another day

84] He who makes no mistakes makes nothing

85] Money makes the man

86] A foolish man knows not the art of forgiveness

87] A joke’s a very serious thing

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

89] Least said, soonest mended

90] Anger restrained is wisdom gained

91] Gold is tried in the fire

92] A dragon that is stranded in shallow water, becomes the butt of shrimps

93] Men are known by the company they keep.

94] Learn not and know not

95] It foolish sheep that makes the wolf his confessor

96] There are more ways to the wood than one.

97] You cannot have your cake and eat it

98] Only with a new ruler do you realize the value of the old

99] Anger managers everything badly.

100] Don’t wear out (or outstay) your welcome