Famous Proverbs

1] A bad workman quarrels with his tools.

2] Be careful to whom you give

3] Don’t cut the bough you are standing on

4] You cannot sell the cow and sup the milk

5] Absence makes the heart grow fonder

6] Cast not the first stone.

7] A beggar pays a benefit with a louse

8] Calamity is the touchstone of a brave mind

9] Don’t bargain for fish which are still in the water

10] The devil is not as black as he is painted

11] An Englishman’s home is his castle

12] Keep something for a rainy day

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

14] Nothing is so bad but might have been worse

15] A good reaper deserves a good sickle.

16] He that eats least eats most

17] All are not thieves that dogs bark at

18] Honest is the best policy

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

20] Give a clown your finger, and he will take your hand

21] Habits are at first cobwebs, at last cables

22] Youth and age will never agree

23] Nothing costs so much as what is given us

24] The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it

25] As you brew, so shall you drink.

26] Soon learnt, soon forgotten

27] When the melon is ripe, it will drop by itself

28] White there’s life there’s hope

29] Unless the vessel is clean, what you pour in to it turns sour.

30] Anger and haste hinder good counsel

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

32] Old cattle breed not

33] Distance lends enchantment to the view

34] He that has a tongue in his head may find his way anywhere

35] A good paymaster never wants workmen

36] He who sows, trusts in God

37] He freezes who does not burn

38] Experience must be bought

39] You never miss the water till the well runs dry

40] A thing of beauty is a joy forever

41] The highest tree has the greatest fall

42] The tailor makes the man

43] The thread breaks where it is weakest

44] Every cock crows on his own dunghill

45] God helps those who help themselves

46] An army marches on its stomach

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

48] Self-preservation is the first law of nature

49] The sun shines upon all alike.

50] Think on the end before you begin

51] It is no use crying over spilt milk

52] A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds

53] The word is far him who has patience

54] Beware of no man more than himself

55] Lend only that which you can afford to lose

56] Woods that grows warped can never be straightened

57] He that burns most, shines most

58] Virtue is its own reward

59] When luck comes, who doesn’t; when luck doesn’t come, who does?

60] Light burden I heavy if far borne

61] If God does not give us what we want, He gives us what we need

62] All for one, and one for all.

63] There’s small choice in rotten apples.

64] A man without a wife is but half a man

65] You see a man’s face but not his heart.

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

67] If you play with fire you get burnt

68] If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite

69] Green leaves enhance the charm of the peony flower

70] Gold is tried in the fire

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

72] No news is good news

73] If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite

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

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

76] Beauty opens locked doors

77] Ill weeds grow apace (or fast)

78] The cobbler’s children are always the worst shod

79] Who hath a good trade, through all waters may wade

80] All heiresses are beautiful.

81] Misery loves company.

82] Jack would be a gentleman if he had money

83] It is not the burden but the overburden that kills the beast

84] Pitchers have ears

85] An evil life is a kind of death.

86] The righteous man sins before an open chest

87] The longest night will have an end

88] You cannot put a quart into a pint pot

89] He laughs best who laughs last

90] Experience is the mother of wisdom

91] Don’t quarrel with your bread and buffer

92] Nothing is so certain as death

93] The slowest barker is the surest biter

94] An old fox is not easily snared

95] He may find fault that cannot mend

96] Corn him well and he will work better

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

98] He is a fool that makes a hammer of his fist

99] A wise man is never less alone than when he is alone

100] Don’t make yourself a mouse, or the cat will eat you