Famous Proverbs

1] Everything must have a beginning

2] Reputation is often got without merit, and lost without crime

3] Bind the sack before it be full

4] The devil sometimes speaks the truth

5] The more you get, the more you want

6] Precept begins, examples accomplish

7] He that has a fellow-ruler, has an over-ruler. ¶ There is no good accord, where every man would be a lord

8] A crust is better than no bread.

9] It is easy to be wise after the event

10] The first step is the hardest

11] The day obliterates the promise of the might

12] The best wine comes from an old vessel

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

14] A traveller may lie with authority

15] Vast chasms can be filled, but the heart of man never

16] If the father is spotted, the son will be speckled

17] Gold brings gold; lack of gold, a headache

18] Necessity and opportunity may make a coward valiant

19] The young will sow their wild oats

20] Away goes the devil when he finds the door shut against him

21] The cat shuts its eyes while it steals cream

22] A drowning man will clutch at a straw

23] It is not work that kills but worry

24] To the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. To a thirsty man any drink is sweet.

25] Necessity breaks iron

26] When the butcher has already killed your pig, it is useless to discuss with him the price

27] The kind-hearted person has a heavy load.

28] Plain dealing is a jewel

29] It is a silly fish that is caught twice with the same bait.

30] Don’t cry before you are hurt

31] A bad shearer never had a good sickle

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

33] The best fish swim near the bottom

34] Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion

35] A fool’s mouth is his destruction

36] Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

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

38] Better at home than a mile from it

39] Easter so longed for is gone in a day

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

41] Money is the sinews of war

42] It’s hard to get one’s own sword back when it’s in someone else’s scabbard

43] No news is good news

44] Example is the greatest of all seducers

45] Fair face, foul heart

46] All are not saints that go to church

47] Hungry bellies have no ears

48] Judge not of men and things at first sight

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

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

51] A ragged colt may make a good horse.

52] Nature is conquered by obeying her

53] The death of the wolves is the safety of the sheep

54] The tongue talks at the heads cost

55] Better be safe than sorry

56] The goat must browse where she is tied

57] An ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory

58] In a clam sea, every man is a pilot

59] They can do least two boast loudest

60] Art improves Nature

61] Talk much end err much

62] In haste is error

63] An empty purse fills the face with wrinkles

64] There is many a true word spoken in jest

65] Why play the harp to a buffalo?

66] All is fair in love and war

67] An ounce of practice is worth a pound of precept

68] A prophet is without honour in his own country

69] Too much curiosity lost paradise

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

71] A goose quill is more dangerous than a lion’s paw

72] He that hopes not for good, fears not evil.

73] A bribe will enter without knocking

74] You cannot serve God and Mammon

75] Misfortune arrives on horseback but departs on foot

76] A black hen lays a white egg

77] Jesters do oft prove prophets

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

79] Common fame is seldom to blame

80] He who spends before he thrives will beg before he thinks

81] See a pin and let it lie, you’ll want a pin before you die

82] Don’t bite the hand that feeds you

83] It is a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock

84] He that has plenty of goods will have more

85] A good servant should never be in the way and never out of the way

86] In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

87] There is no royal road to learning

88] It costs more to do ill than to do well

89] Where god will help, nothing does harm

90] An old horse knows the route

91] The king can make a knight, but not a gentleman

92] War, hunting and love are as full of trouble as pleasure

93] The longest way round is the shortest way home

94] What the fool does in the end, the wise man does at the beginning

95] Ill news comes often on the back of worse

96] Much science, much sorrow

97] Neither praise nor dispraise thyself; thy actions serve the turn

98] The peony, though large, is useless; the date blossom, though small, yields fruit

99] Don’t teach your grandmother how to suck eggs

100] A long tongue is a sign of a short hand