Famous Proverbs

1] Virtue and happiness are mother and daughter

2] When things are at the worst, they begin to mend

3] Kick a tone in anger, and you will hurt your own feet

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

5] Flesh is frail

6] Better belly burst than good meat lost

7] It is easier to capture a tiger in the hills than to ask for favours from a man

8] Idle folks have the least leisure

9] It takes a wise man to be a fool

10] The quarrel of lovers is the renewal of love

11] Almost’ never killed a fly.

12] He that comes first to the hill, may sit where he will.

13] Marriage is a lottery

14] A good horse cannot wear two saddles

15] He that compiles against his will, is of his own opinion still

16] Dogs bark as they are bred.

17] The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts

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

19] Not even Hercules could contend against two

20] While the word is in your mouth, it is your own; when ‘tis another’s

21] If you have known one, you have known them all

22] A dragon that is stranded in shallow water, becomes the butt of shrimps

23] Great talkers are never great doers

24] Desire beautifies what is ugly

25] A bow long bent at last waxes weak

26] Honesty is the best policy

27] Crime does not pay

28] Adversity comes with instruction in its hand

29] The word is far him who has patience

30] If it were not for hope, the heart would break

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

32] Many kiss the hand they wish to cut off

33] Bad news travels fast

34] One kindness is the price of another

35] Union (or Unity) is strength

36] What children hear at home, soon files abroad

37] Ready money is a ready remedy

38] Old foxes want no tutors

39] Nearest the heart comes out first

40] As well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamp

41] Kingdoms divided soon fall

42] Paddle your own canoe

43] Only with a new ruler do you realize the value of the old

44] An old ox will find a shelter for himself

45] The best things come in small packages

46] It is misery enough to have once been happy

47] Love is lawless.

48] Choose neither women nor linen by candlelight.

49] The worse luck now, the better another time

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

51] He that would know what shall be, must consider what has been

52] Wake not a sleeping lion

53] Beauty fades like a flower.

54] Never do evil that good may come of it

55] Nothing ventured, nothing gained

56] He is a fool that kisses the maid when he may kiss the mistress

57] The disinterested observer may perceive what is missed by those who are directly involved

58] Never say die

59] Make hay while the sun shines

60] Like father, like son

61] Discretion is the better part of valour

62] A beggar can never be bankrupt

63] Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday – but never jam today

64] Tell a lie and stick to it.

65] Misfortunes find their way even on the darkest night

66] Long looked for, comes at last

67] Let an ill man lie in the straw and he looks to be thy heir

68] Delay is the antidote of anger

69] Many dishes make many diseases

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

71] No man ever becomes thoroughly bad all at once

72] There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip

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

74] It is well to live that one may learn

75] Take not a musket to kill a butterfly

76] Let bygones be bygones

77] The ant had wings to her hurt

78] Woes unite foes

79] Who keeps company with the wolf, will learn to howl

80] A good anvil does not fear the hammer

81] Too much money makes one mad

82] Better wear out shoes than sheers.

83] Harp not for ever on the same string

84] Fortune favours fools

85] The best of friends must part

86] Things are only worth one makes them worth

87] Pride dines on vanity, sups on contempt

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

89] Do right and fear no man

90] Faint heart never won fair lady

91] Friends agree best at a distance

92] You cannot know the wine by the barrel

93] Habit is second nature

94] Gifts are scorned where givers are despised

95] A good dog deserves a good bone

96] Stolen sweets are sweeter

97] Forbidden fruit is sweetest

98] The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach

99] No man is content with his lot

100] The strong man and the waterfall channel their own path