Famous Proverbs

1] It takes two to make a quarrel

2] Those who sell dog-meat often display a lamb’s head

3] In your anxiety to avoid losing a drop, you spill the whole lot

4] Soft fire makes sweet malt

5] The effect speaks, the tongue need not

6] Adversity comes with instruction in its hand

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

8] The greater the kindred, the less the kindness.

9] Knavery may serve for a turn, nut honesty is best in the long run

10] Don’t hallo (or shout, or whistle) until you are out of the wood

11] It takes all sorts to make a world

12] Would you know what money is, got borrow some

13] All our pomp the earth covers

14] It is easier to get a favour from fortune than to keep it

15] There is nothing like being on the safe side

16] He who seizes the right moment is the right man

17] Everything is of use to a housekeeper

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

19] Every why has a wherefore

20] Honest is the best policy

21] A bribe will enter without knocking

22] It is not easy to steal when the landlord is a thief

23] Spend and be free, but make no waste

24] Beware of a silent man and still water

25] He that dare not venture must not complain of ill luck

26] He who gives to the unworthy loses doubly

27] Men leap over where the hedge is lowest

28] God provides for him that trusts

29] Give yourself a pinch, and you will know how a pinch must hurt others

30] Those who live near water know the nature of fish; those who live near hills know the calls of birds

31] Wake not a sleeping lion

32] Hope keeps man alive

33] Patience surpasses learning

34] Even though one’s aunt sells the cakes, one will not buy unless they are cheap.

35] It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good

36] The charitable give out at the door, and God puts in at the window

37] He that seeks trouble never misses

38] Cheats never prosper

39] Don’t empty (or throw) the baby out with the bath water

40] Exchange is no robbery

41] If you wish good advice, consult an old man

42] A straight stick is crooked in water

43] He who rouses a sleeping tiger exposes himself to danger

44] Everyone leaps over the dyke where it is lowest

45] You cannot get blood (or water) out of a stone

46] Saying is one thing, and doing another

47] Travel with open eyes and you will become a scholar

48] The fairest silk is soonest stained

49] A hundred pounds of sorrow pays not one ounce of debt

50] Wine does not intoxicate men; men intoxicate themselves

51] Little and often fills the purse

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

53] He who depends on another, dines ill and sups worse

54] Train the child in the way he should go.

55] Old vessels must leak

56] Empty vessels make the most sound

57] Many would be cowards, if they had courage enough

58] If anything can go wrong, it will

59] An account is an account, and a brother a brother.

60] He that speaks not, God hears not

61] Courtesy on one side never lasts long

62] Beware of no man more than himself

63] From the sublime to the ridiculous is only a step

64] Rats desert (or forsake) a sinking ship

65] It is ill waiting for dead men’s shoes

66] If the doctor cures, the sun sees it; but if he kills, the earth hides it.

67] It’s either not to begin or not to stop once you’ve begun

68] A good anvil does not fear the hammer

69] Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard

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

71] Better a good cow than a cow of a good kind

72] Give a servant a rod, and he’ll beat his master

73] A good paymaster needs no surety

74] Better go about than fall in to the ditch

75] No good building without a good foundation.

76] Better are small fish than an empty dish

77] Virtue is the only true nobility

78] Virtue is the only true nobility

79] You never know what you can do till you try

80] Gold is tried in the fire

81] That fish will soon be caught that nibbles at every bait

82] If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again

83] No man can serve two masters

84] The courteous one learns his courtesy from the discourteous.

85] Open confession is good for the soul

86] He that falls today may rise tomorrow

87] He that tells a secret, is another’s servant.

88] The first step is the only difficulty

89] We shall lie all alike in our graves

90] Pouring oil on the fire is not the way to quench it

91] If today will not, tomorrow may

92] Manners and money make a gentleman

93] Hope keeps man alive

94] Drive thy business or it will drive thee.

95] Take away fuel, take away flame

96] A good lawyer must be a great liar

97] Better sit still than rise and fall

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

99] Who suffers much is silent

100] The mob has many heads but no brains