Famous Proverbs

1] The proud will sooner lose than ask the way

2] Better do a kindness near home than go to a temple far away to burn incense.

3] Because he would not eat it, the food got maggoty

4] Lend never that thing you needed most

5] It is easier to commend poverty than endure it.

6] Heaven helps those who help themselves

7] Nothing is more contagious than a bad example

8] Other times, other manners

9] Where there is peace, there is blessing

10] Hasty climbers have sudden falls

11] He that makes himself a sheep, shall be eaten by the wolf

12] A hungry man is angry man

13] Where there are reeds, there is water

14] Anger makes a rich man hated, and a poor man scorned.

15] God’ s mill grids slow but sure

16] Manners make the man

17] Cease to hope and you will cease to fear.

18] The more you get, the more you want

19] Patience is a flower that grows not in everyone’s garden

20] Do not kick against the pricks

21] When the fox preaches, then beware your geese

22] The fairest flowers soonest fade

23] We can live without our friends, but not without our neighbours

24] A jug that has been mended lasts two hundred years

25] First catch your hare

26] Throw out a sprat to catch a mackerel

27] A man of courage never wants weapons

28] Wise is the man who never exposes himself to unnecessary danger

29] There’s no such thing as free as a free lunch

30] The calmest husbands make the stormiest wives

31] Solitude is the best nurse of wisdom

32] He who does not rise with the sun does not enjoy the day

33] The devil sometimes speaks the truth

34] Whether the pitcher strikes the stone, or the stone the pitcher, it is bad for the pitcher

35] Naughty boys sometimes make good men.

36] Through obedience learn to command.

37] Praise makes good men better and bad men worse

38] Mustard is a good sauce, but mirth is better

39] A jest breaks no bones

40] There is no blindness like ignorance

41] Never do evil that good may come of it

42] A contented mind is a perpetual feast

43] Beauty is only skin deep

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

45] One kindness is the price of another

46] He that will thrive must rise at five

47] He who wills the end, Wills the means

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

49] Prove your friend ere you have need

50] Eat at pleasure, drink by measure

51] When you do not know what to do – wait.

52] A old poacher makes the best gamekeeper

53] Fear of death is worse than death itself

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

55] Every bean has its black

56] Burn not your house to fright the mouse away

57] Marriages are made in heaven

58] He that obey cannot command

59] Tomorrow never comes

60] A wise man will learn something even from the words of a fool

61] It is too late to lock the stable when the horse has been stolen

62] Shrimps get broken backs when whales fight

63] A trouble shared is a trouble halved.

64] A piece of churchyard fits every body

65] A good example is the best sermon

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

67] Tempt not a desperate man

68] Hunger drives the wolf out of the wood

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

70] Do as you would be done by

71] Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory

72] Every man to his trade.

73] Possibilities are infinite

74] Make yourself all honey and the flies will devour you

75] All are not thieves that dogs bark at

76] Extremes meet

77] Custom takes the taste from the most savoury dishes

78] One drop of poison infects the whole tun of wine

79] Better be first in a village than second at Rome

80] The devil’s children have the devil’s luck

81] There is nothing new under the sun

82] Praise without profit puts little in the pot

83] What’s done is done

84] He who waits for another man’s platter has a cold meal

85] Step by step the ladder is ascended

86] Eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves

87] Poverty parts friendship

88] It the counsel be good, no matter who gave it.

89] He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved

90] Coming events cast their shadows before

91] A good reaper deserves a good sickle.

92] Fair is he that comes, but fairer is he that brings.

93] Catch not at the shadow and lose the substance

94] Virtue and happiness are mother and daughter

95] He that speaks well, flights well

96] Soon hot, soon cold

97] Jesters do oft prove prophets

98] What one loses (or you lose) on the swings, one makes up (or you gain) on the roundabouts

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

100] Since god has not bent the top of the palm tree, he has given a long neck to the giraffe