Famous Proverbs

1] Never do evil that good may come of it

2] It is ill waiting for dead men’s shoes

3] Strike while the iron is hot

4] Abundance, like want, ruins many

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

6] Covetousness breaks the sack

7] Abundance, like want, ruins many

8] Ambition makes people diligent

9] Knowledge has bitter roots but sweet fruits

10] Calamity is man’s true touchstone

11] The early man ever borrows from the late man

12] Lovers’ quarrels are soon mended

13] What children hear at home, soon files abroad

14] Dream of a funeral and you hear of a marriage

15] Never grieve for what you cannot help

16] There is nothing lost by civility

17] Kind hearts are soonest wronged

18] Master easy, servant slack

19] All’s well that ends well

20] A crust is better than no bread.

21] Covetousness is always filling a bottomless vessel

22] There’s no fence against ill fortune.

23] When meat is in anger is out

24] In doing we learn.

25] Creditors have better memories than debtors

26] If there were no clouds, we should not enjoy the sun

27] Between two stools you fall to the ground

28] Wrong has no warrant

29] It is a great victory that comes without blood

30] If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

31] Save a thief from the gallows and he’ll cut your throat

32] All doors open to courtesy

33] Patience surpasses learning

34] Nothing is so certain as death

35] Bare walls make giddy housewives

36] Clothes do not make the man

37] The sun is never the worse for shining on a dunghill

38] Manners make the man

39] The best is often the enemy of the good

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

41] The soldier who retreated fifty paces laughed at the one who had fallen back a hundred paces

42] A fool and his money are soon parted

43] See how the wind blows

44] Since god has not bent the top of the palm tree, he has given a long neck to the giraffe

45] Nothing comes from nothing

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

47] Who suffers much is silent

48] It is too late to call back yesterday

49] Quarrels do not last long if the wrong is only on one side

50] Learning is like sailing against the tide - if you don’t move forward, you go backward

51] Constant dripping (or dropping) wears away the stone

52] Afflictions are sent to us by God for our good

53] Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know the man

54] Sparrows who emulate peacocks are likely to break a thigh

55] Pride goes before a fall

56] Do not triumph before the victory

57] Let every pedlar carry his own burden

58] He that seeks trouble never misses

59] He mediates revenge who least complains.

60] An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains

61] He has not lost all who has one cast left

62] Small is the seed of every greatness

63] When the fox preaches, then beware your geese

64] A good name is sooner lost than won

65] Better be out of the world than out of the fashion.

66] When a dwarf ascends a staircase, he gets higher every step

67] No flying without wings.

68] Tune the harp strings to be neither too loose nor too taut

69] We must not look for a golden life in an iron age

70] It’s a long lane that has no turning

71] Not even Hercules could contend against two

72] By his deeds we know a man

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

74] A fault confessed is half redressed

75] One is never too old to learn

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

77] A useful trade is a mine of gold

78] The highest tree has the greatest fall

79] The good die young.

80] The Pen is mightier than the sword

81] It is not the hood that makes the monk.

82] Rome was not built in a day

83] All are not thieves that dogs bark at

84] It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead for the rest of your life

85] Fair is not fair, but that which pleases.

86] It is not work that kills but worry

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

88] Mirth is the sugar of life

89] Law makers should not be law breakers

90] Silence gives (or means) consent

91] Words bind men

92] You cannot have your cake and eat it

93] There is death in the pot.

94] Praises fill not the belly

95] As you sow, so shall you reap

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

97] Children and fools cannot lie.

98] He that sings on Friday, will weep on Sunday

99] Fortune knocks once at everyone’s door (or gate)

100] Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory