Famous Proverbs

1] He that compiles against his will, is of his own opinion still

2] Never buy a pig in a poke

3] One is not smelt where all stink

4] Like breeds like

5] Good advice is often annoying, bad advice never.

6] Mere wishes are silly fishes

7] Keep your eyes open: a sale is a sale

8] Parents are patterns

9] Solitude is the best nurse of wisdom

10] Arms bend inwards – not outwards.

11] Hunger drives the wolf out of the wood

12] To know the husband, observe the face of the wife

13] One hand washes the other

14] Not good is it to harp on the frayed string

15] Familiarity breeds contempt

16] Past experiences are the best guide for future undertakings

17] A good wife makes a good husband

18] It the counsel be good, no matter who gave it.

19] Every man must carry his own cross

20] The lion had need of the mouse

21] The truest jests sound worst in guilty ears

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

23] The sun shines upon all alike.

24] What we have seen with out own eyes is very much but what we have not seen is infinite.

25] Paddle your own canoe

26] A goose drinks as much as gander

27] What can you expect from a hog but a grunt?

28] Sour, sweet, bitter and pungent flavours must all be tasted

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

30] Men are blind in their own cause

31] Money makes the man

32] East or west, home is best

33] Better a lean peace than a fat victory

34] A whip for a fool, and a rod for a school, is always in good seasons

35] Rome was not (or cannot be) built in a day

36] Like father, like son

37] An egg thief will become a camel thief

38] He daren’t say ‘boo’ to a goose

39] Better the last smile than the first laugh

40] Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

41] Mercy to the criminal may be cruelty to the people

42] He who says what he likes shall hear what he does not like

43] Gold will not buy everything

44] Some have been thought brave because they are afraid to run away

45] Take not a musket to kill a butterfly

46] It is profound ignorance that inspires the dogmatic tone

47] Patience is the remedy of the world

48] To speak as the common people, to think as the wise

49] That voyage never has luck where each one has a vote.

50] The best of friends must part

51] He that dare not venture must not complain of ill luck

52] A true man and a thief think not the same

53] A fool always rushes to the fore.

54] Don’t change horses in mid-stream

55] Good goods are not cheap; cheap goods are not good

56] Pardoning the bad is injuring the good

57] Make haste slowly

58] Easter so longed for is gone in a day

59] Anger begins with folly and ends with repentance.

60] He that follows Nature , is never out of his way

61] There is many a fair thing full false

62] Tell the truth and shame the devil

63] Learn to walk before you run

64] Golden lads and girls all must, as chimney-sweepers, come to dust

65] The proof of the pudding lies in the eating

66] An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden

67] Only a fool will make the doctor his heir

68] The best fish swim near the bottom

69] The longer you look at it, the less you will like it

70] Nature surpasses art

71] No land without stones, or meat without bones

72] Footprints on the sands of time are not made by sitting down

73] If you trust before you try, you may repent before you die

74] He who does no good, does evil enough

75] Fools live poor to die rich

76] Don’t change horses in mid-stream

77] When it rains porridge, the beggar has no spoon.

78] Rich folk have many friends

79] Medical plants from one’s own back-yard are no valued.

80] Great fortune brings with it great misfortune

81] Fools live poor to die rich

82] One can’t go to bed when a visit or stays late

83] Wine uncloaks the words of the heart

84] Sickness shows us what we are

85] Envy never enriched any man.

86] Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

87] Death is the grand leveler

88] It is as hard to please a knave as knight

89] Variety is charming

90] It is easy to be wise after the event

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

92] It is a foolish sheep that makes the wolf his confessor

93] No flying without wings.

94] Bind the sack before it be full

95] Once a use and ever a custom

96] Misfortunes never come singly

97] Of three main roads, take the middle one

98] The peony, though large, is useless; the date blossom, though small, yields fruit

99] Beauty is in the face; grace is all over.

100] A man of many trades, begs his bread on Sunday