Famous Proverbs

1] Care killed the cat

2] If cattle are scattered, the tiger seizes them.

3] Little things are pretty

4] If fools went not to market, bad wares would not be sold.

5] Share and share alike

6] God’s help is better than the early rising

7] The hunchback does not see his own hump, but his companion’s

8] Charity begins at home.

9] Do not limp before the lame

10] A little body often harbours a great soul

11] None but the brave deserves the fair

12] Set a thief to catch a thief

13] Truth has no need of rhetoric

14] Though the fox runs, the chicken has wings

15] A fool and his money are soon parted

16] Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face

17] Good words are worth much and cost little

18] The rich man thinks of the future, the poor man thinks of today

19] The pot calls the kettle black

20] Eat at pleasure, drink by measure

21] If the wise erred not, it would go hard with fools.

22] How ever much you learn, you won’t know how to raise the dead

23] A bad padlock invites a picklock

24] Pride goes before a fall

25] At a good bargain thinks twice

26] Never make threats you cannot carry out.

27] If youth knew what age would crave. It would both get and save

28] A man must plough with such oxen as he has

29] The last drop makes the cup run over

30] The whole boat is putrid because of a single carp

31] The mob has many heads but no brains

32] Good wine needs no bush

33] He that would catch fish must venture his bait

34] You know what you can do till you try.

35] He who lives with cats will get a taste for mice

36] A fool is ever dancing on the tip of his tongue

37] Hope deferred makes the heart sick

38] Too much cunning undoes

39] Care brings grey hair.

40] A joke’s a very serious thing

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

42] Promises may make friends, but it is performances that keep them

43] Never spend your money before you have it

44] Idle folks have the least leisure

45] Ill news comes often on the back of worse

46] All for one, and one for all.

47] Choose your neighbour before your house and your companion before the road.

48] Our own opinion is never wrong

49] Much science, much sorrow

50] Everything in moderation.

51] Fingers were made before forks

52] Throw out a sprat to catch a mackerel

53] Arms bend inwards – not outwards.

54] Why play music for a deal man or dance for a blind man?

55] He is lifeless that is faultless

56] The thing which is rare is dear

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

58] Industry is fortune’s right hand, and frugality her left

59] Tie a chicken with an elephant rope, and it will slip off; tie an elephant with a chicken-tether, and it will break away.

60] Make the best of a bad bargain

61] Mettle is dangerous in a blind horse

62] In doing we learn.

63] The great fish eat up the small

64] Does sound come from an unstruck drum?

65] Love me, love my dog

66] He who sits chatting about nothing loses his candle

67] Praise no man till he is dead.

68] The cat would eat fish and would not wet her feet

69] You cannot catch old birds with chaff

70] Let people laugh, as long as I am warm

71] Mettle is dangerous in a blind horse

72] The company makes the feast

73] No tie can oblige the perfidious

74] Give a fool (or a thief) enough rope and he will hang himself

75] An old man is a bed full of bones

76] He that lends, gives

77] Misery acquaints men with strange bedfellows

78] A mill cannot grind with water that is past

79] Silence is a woman’s best garment

80] Corruption of the best becomes the worst

81] Even a clever wife cannot prepare a meal when there is no food

82] By doing nothing, we learn to do ill

83] The sun is never the worse for shining on a dunghill

84] You cannot skimp on the fodder and have an energetic horse.

85] All lay loads on a willing horse

86] A tree often transplanted, bears not much fruit

87] Familiarity breeds contempt

88] Distance lends enchantment to the view

89] The greatest talkers are the least doers

90] One barber shaves another gratis

91] A good lather is half the shave

92] The beaten road is the safest

93] Do not halloo till you are out of the wood

94] He who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning

95] Love is sweet torment

96] A bad workman always blames his tools

97] All things for not all persons

98] Gold is tried in the fire

99] Corn him well and he will work better

100] Better a lean peace than a fat victory