Famous Proverbs

1] Never spur a willing horse

2] He would command must serve

3] It is a poor kin that has neither whore nor thief in it

4] Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist

5] A old poacher makes the best gamekeeper

6] Busiest men find the most time

7] If you have no honey in your pot, have some in your mouth.

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

9] Let people laugh, as long as I am warm

10] No man so good but another may be as good as he

11] We always weaken whatever we exaggerate

12] The crow laughs at the pig for being black

13] Honour is the reward of virtue

14] Those who live near water know the nature of fish; those who live near hills know the calls of birds

15] He that will thrive, must rise at five; he that has thriven, may lie till seven; but he that will never thrive may lie till eleven

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

17] He that forecasts all perils will never sail the sea

18] He who comes late must eat what is left

19] Dreams go by contraries

20] A great city, a great solitude

21] He that touches pitch shall be defiled

22] Fortune is blind

23] A hungry man smells meat afar off

24] Wise men silent, fools talk

25] The poorer one is, the more devils one meets

26] Time and tide wait for no man

27] History repeats itself

28] There is no smoke without fire

29] We soon believe what we desire

30] When all men say you are an ass, it is time to bray

31] You cannot make a crab walk straight

32] The physician who praises himself has no good medicine

33] Better children weep than old men

34] Death is the grand leveler

35] Strings high stretched either soon crack or quickly grow out of tune.

36] All’s fish that comes to the net

37] Double charge will rive a cannon

38] Every commodity has its discommodity

39] The crow laughs at the pig for being black

40] Every medal has its reverse

41] Virtue is praised by all, but practiced by few

42] Words cut more than swords

43] Good fences make good neighbours

44] All are not saints that go to church

45] Grin and bear it

46] The longest journey starts with a single step

47] He who sits chatting about nothing loses his candle

48] Fire is a good servant a bad master

49] No convenience without its inconvenience

50] Deliver your words not by number but by weight

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

52] The tongue talks at the heads cost

53] Lend, and lose the loan or gain an enemy

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

55] A monk can’t shave his own head

56] Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t

57] Pardon one offence and you encourage many

58] Never try to prove what nobody doubts

59] Gold may be bought too dear

60] Catch your bear before you sell its skin

61] Ill news comes apace.

62] A rich miser is poorer than a poor man

63] No remedy but patience

64] All things are difficult before they are easy

65] Hope is the poor man’s bread

66] The great fish eat up the small

67] Two blacks do not make a white

68] Light burden I heavy if far borne

69] Goods that are much on show lose their colour

70] Whatsoever was the father of a disease, an ill diet was the mother.

71] Nothing is so certain as death

72] Quietness is a great treasure

73] Strike while the iron is hot

74] Keep something for a rainy day

75] Patience under old injuries invites new ones

76] Like mistress, like maid

77] Faint heart never won fair lady

78] The hero appears only when the tiger is dead

79] Hypocrisy is a homage that vice pay to virtue

80] Far fowls have fair feather

81] A man of knowledge increaseth strength

82] Poverty is no disgrace but it is a great inconvenience

83] No convenience without its inconvenience

84] Full of courtesy, full of craft

85] No wrong without a remedy

86] Penny wise, pound foolish

87] Where the dam leaps over, the kid follows

88] Harp not for ever on the same string

89] In indecision itself, grief is present.

90] An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening

91] Kindle not a fire that you cannot extinguish

92] Neglect will kill an injury sooner than revenge

93] Where grooms and householders are all alike great, very disastrous will it be for the houses and all that dwell in them

94] Do it now

95] Better beg than steal.

96] Think of ease, but work on.

97] Much travel is needed to ripen a man’s rawness

98] It at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again

99] The resolved mind has no cares

100] If you agree to carry the calf, they’ll make you carry the cow.