Famous Proverbs

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

2] The longest night will have an end

3] Alms never make poor

4] When children stand quiet, they have done some ill.

5] Weak things united become strong

6] Familiarity breeds contempt

7] Love conquers all

8] Each day brings its own bread

9] Liars should have good memories

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

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

12] Thrift is a great revenue

13] The Friar Preached against stealing and had a goose in his sleeve

14] Adversity makes strange bedfellows

15] The wise forget an insult, as the ungrateful a kindness

16] Dress up a stick and it does not appear to be a stick

17] Do not wear out your welcome

18] Open a book and you profit by what you read

19] Who greases his way travels easily

20] It is a sorry flock where the ewe bears the bell

21] Quietness is a great treasure

22] An ill marriage is a spring of ill fortune

23] The pot calls the kettle black

24] Words have wings, and cannot be recalled

25] The darkest hour is that before the dawn

26] A secret fire is discovered by the smoke

27] Luck for fools and chance for the ugly

28] Empty vessels make the most noise

29] Curses, like chickens, come home to roost

30] Wisdom is better than strength

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

32] Better go about than fall in to the ditch

33] The world is full of fools

34] Good merchandise finds a ready buyer

35] He knows the water best who has waded through it

36] A good reaper deserves a good sickle.

37] Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

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

39] You can be head a man but you can’t shut his mouth

40] Never tell your enemy that your foot aches

41] Pride is the mask of one’s own faults

42] The cobbler should stick to his last

43] Needs must when the evil drives

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

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

46] A good heart cannot lie.

47] Fortune is blind

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

49] He’s his father’s (or mother’s) son

50] There is no place like home

51] The first day a guest, the second day a guest, the third day a calamity

52] Every beggar is descended from some king, and every king is descended from some beggar.

53] Covetousness breaks the sack

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

55] Eat at pleasure, drink by measure

56] The perfect good is the exercise of virtue

57] Love is lawless.

58] He that serves every body is paid by nobody

59] Learning makes a good man better and an ill man worse

60] He knows most who speaks least

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

62] Send a fool to France and he’ll come back a fool

63] It is a great victory that comes without blood

64] The pen is the tongue of the hand

65] It is good fishing in troubled waters

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

67] Wife and Children are bills of charges

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

69] The bigger they are, the harder they fall

70] Those who are used to the signs of the dumb, understand them

71] If you gently touch a nettle, it’ll sting you for your pains; grasp it like a man of mettle, and it soft as silk remains.

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

73] The tongue breaks bone, and herself has none

74] If today will not, tomorrow may

75] Cowardice is afraid to be known or seen

76] Tender-handed stroke a nettle, and it stings you for your pain: grasp it like a man of mettle, and it soft as silk remains

77] He that falls today may rise tomorrow

78] When the cat is away, the mice will play

79] A word spoken is past recalling

80] Might overcome right.

81] He who sits chatting about nothing loses his candle

82] There is a black sheep in every flock

83] All work and no play makes jack a dull boy

84] The devil sometimes speaks the truth

85] You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours

86] Better an open enemy than a false friend

87] Things are only worth one makes them worth

88] An obedient wife commands her husband

89] There is no blindness like ignorance

90] Virtue is the only true nobility

91] Good fame is better than a good face

92] A man of gladness seldom falls into madness

93] Dogs bark as they are bred.

94] Wine is the best broom for trouble

95] You win some, you lose some

96] Threatened folk live long

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

98] He that obey cannot command

99] Fine words dress ill deeds

100] What is shown by example, men think they may justly do