Famous Proverbs

1] Promises are like pie-crust, made to be broken

2] A strong town is not won in an hour

3] The ass loaded with gold still eats thistles

4] God arms the harmless

5] A man can die but once

6] No naked man is sought after to be rifled

7] The great would have none great, and the little all little

8] Armies are maintained for years to be used on a single day.

9] Make yourself all honey and the flies will devour you

10] Where there is peace, there is blessing

11] You can’t tell a book by its cover

12] One needs a full stomach to keep the precepts

13] There are hills, and there are swamps as well.

14] The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts

15] Every deed is to be judges by the doer’s intention.

16] The envious man shall never want woe

17] If you play with fire you get burnt

18] It is good to follow the old fox

19] When wrath speaks, wisdom veils her face.

20] Money is power

21] He that will steal an egg, will steal an ox

22] Better a little loss than a long sorrow

23] Fools rush in where angles fear to tread

24] Evil to him who evil thinks.

25] Good words are worth much and cost little

26] Wives must be had, be they good or bad

27] Now is now, and then was then

28] If you want peace, prepare for war

29] A word to the wise is enough

30] Forethought is easy, repentance hard

31] Life means strife

32] Bad excuses are worse than none.

33] I may not have tasted their flesh but I’ve seen enough to know how pigs walk

34] Through hardship to the stars

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

36] Open confession is good for the soul

37] Beauty is only skin deep

38] When you are an anvil, hold still; when you are an anvil, hold still; when you are a hammer, strike your fill.

39] Quietness is a great treasure

40] He who last, laughs longest.

41] Slender cannot make a good man bad; when the water recedes, the stone is still there.

42] He loved mutton well that licked where the ewe lay

43] As soon as man is born, he begins to die

44] Be not too bold with your biggers or betters

45] No day so clear but has dark clouds

46] He that cannot pay in purse must pay in person

47] Common fame is seldom to blame

48] Rule youth well and age will rule itself

49] Share and share alike

50] A knave and a fool never take thought

51] Bare walls make giddy housewives

52] It takes two to make a quarrel

53] First try and then trust

54] A rolling stone gathers no moss

55] Better beg than steal.

56] Prove your friend ere you have need

57] Never do evil that good may come of it

58] Intimacy lessens fame

59] Slow and steady wins the race

60] He that comes of a hen, must scrape

61] No flying without wings.

62] Hope often deludes the foolish man

63] Patience is the remedy of the world

64] You can’t teach an old dog new tricks

65] All’s well that ends well

66] Life is not all beer and skittles

67] Fear the Greeks (or Beware of Greeks) bearing gifts

68] Men are blind in their own cause

69] Four eyes see better than two.

70] The young will sow their wild oats

71] Past cure, past care

72] Follow love and it will flee thee; flee love and it will follow thee

73] All doors open to courtesy

74] Wisdom is neither inheritance nor legacy

75] An honest good look covers many faults.

76] A bad padlock invites a picklock

77] Beauty is but skin-deep

78] Brevity is the soul of wit

79] When good cheer is lacking, our friends will be packing

80] One speak of rat droppings will spoil a whole pan of rice

81] To take revenge is often to sacrifice oneself

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

83] What’s done is done

84] Two wrongs do not make a right

85] Money has no smell

86] Water far away will not extinguish a fire that is nearby; relatives far from you are not as good as neighbours close to you.

87] Great alms-giving lessens no man’s living

88] When meat is in anger is out

89] Delays are not denials

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

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

92] Learn to walk before you run

93] Much learning makes men mad

94] Many a true word is spoken in jest

95] Even reckoning makes long friends

96] When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then a gentleman?

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

98] Poor men’s words have little weight

99] A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.

100] Error cannot be defended but by error