Famous Proverbs

1] He that can stay. Obtains

2] Covetousness is the root of all evil

3] A good servant must have good wages

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

5] Pride is at the bottom of all mistakes

6] Everyone leaps over the dyke where it is lowest

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

8] Vice makes virtue shine

9] Fortune favours fools

10] Content is more than a kingdom

11] The best remedy against an ill man, is much ground between

12] You must lose a fly to catch a trout

13] When meat is in anger is out

14] The fox may grow grey, but never good

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

16] Knowledge is power

17] The early man ever borrows from the late man

18] There is nothing that costs less than civility

19] Each man, in corrupting others, corrupts himself

20] The wolf may lose his teeth, but never his nature

21] He preaches well (or best) that lives well (or best).

22] If you have no honey in your pot, have some in your mouth.

23] Lend your money and lose a friend

24] A penny saved is a penny gained

25] Keep no more cats than will catch mice

26] There’s small choice in rotten apples.

27] Plain dealing is best

28] If you cannot bite never show your teeth

29] Better be alone than in bad company

30] It is no use crying over spilt milk

31] Forbidden fruit is sweetest

32] Precept begins, examples accomplish

33] Love will go through stone walls

34] Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage

35] T’ is safest making peace with sword in hand

36] Remember, you are but a man

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

38] Ill comes often on the back worse

39] Every beginning is hard

40] He that is long a-giving knows not how to give

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

42] First catch your hare

43] Four eyes see better than two.

44] A merry companion is a wagon on the way

45] Silence is golden

46] He cannot speak well that cannot hold his tongue

47] Don’t build the sty before the litter comes

48] Rule youth well and age will rule itself

49] If the lad goes to the well against his will, either the can will break or the water will spill

50] Good fences make good neighbours

51] All is vanity.

52] The devil is not as black as he is painted

53] Fool rush in where angels fear to trend

54] Good company on the road is the shortest cut

55] Every lot is to be overcome by endurance

56] The hen that lays the eggs knows the pain

57] Don’t bite the hand that feeds you

58] Rome was not (or cannot be) built in a day

59] Love is never without jealousy

60] It is a poor (or sad) heart that never rejoices

61] An arrow shot upright falls on the shooter’s head

62] If one will not, another will

63] He that sows thistles shall reap prickles.

64] Water far away will not extinguish a fire that is nearby; relatives far from you are not as good as neighbours close to you.

65] Spare the rod and spoil the child

66] Better cut the shoe than pinch the foot

67] Wrong has no warrant

68] See how the wind blows

69] Of one ill come many

70] A good heart cannot lie.

71] We always weaken whatever we exaggerate

72] A rich miser is poorer than a poor man

73] A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

74] Dying men speak true

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

76] Often and little eating makes a man fat

77] A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword

78] Don’t try to run before you walk

79] He has not lost all who has one cast left

80] Man does what he can, and God what he will

81] It is as hard to please a knave as knight

82] Idle folks lack no excuses

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

84] Misery acquaints men with strange bedfellows

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

86] What can you expect from a pig (or hog) but a grunt?

87] An ill tongue may do much

88] Better be born lucky than wise.

89] Petty laws breed great crimes

90] Crust is better than no bread

91] When a man grows angry, his reason rides out.

92] However much the arm may swing out, the armpit is where it sticks

93] Who repairs not his gutter, repairs his whole house

94] Many a true word is spoken in jest

95] Zeal is fit only for wise men, but is found mostly in fools

96] Half a word is enough for a wise man

97] Time has wings

98] Know thyself

99] Comparisons make enemies of our friends.

100] Make haste slowly