Famous Proverbs

1] Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

2] Ambition loses many a man

3] He who considers too much will perform little.

4] He preaches well (or best) that lives well (or best).

5] Haste is of (or from) the devil

6] However much the arm may swing out, the armpit is where it sticks

7] You are never too old to learn

8] Master easy, servant slack

9] What will not money do?

10] The eye sees only what it has the power of seeing

11] When the dog catches mice, it is meddling in the cat’s business.

12] Half the world knows not how the other half lives

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

14] Good counsel never comes amiss

15] Men do more things through habit than reason

16] Soon learnt, soon forgotten

17] Too much hope deceives

18] The rich man thinks of the future, the poor man thinks of today

19] With wealth, you are as grand as a dragon; without wealth you are as insignificant as a worm.

20] The morning hour has gold in its mouth

21] Evil to him who evil thinks.

22] Better at home than a mile from it

23] If you walk in the sun, you will know the blessedness of being in the shade

24] As you sow, so shall you reap

25] Beauty is only skin deep

26] A great calligrapher isn’t choosy about his brushes.

27] The hole calls the thief

28] God heals, and the physician takes the fee

29] It needs more skill than I can tell to play the second fiddle well

30] Better do a kindness near home than go to a temple far away to burn incense.

31] It takes two to make a quarrel

32] Words are but wind, but seeing’s believing

33] It is the unexpected that always happens

34] Pardon one offence and you encourage many

35] He who gives to the unworthy loses doubly

36] First impressions are the most lasting

37] We shall lie all alike in our graves

38] Opportunity makes the thief

39] As long lives a merry man as a sad

40] You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear

41] He that burns most, shines most

42] Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

43] Pride goes before a fall

44] All cats love fish but fear to wet their paws

45] Too many cooks spoil the broth

46] He who teaches learns

47] Man cannot live by bread alone

48] Never too late to learn

49] Words and feathers the wind carries away

50] An honest good look covers many faults.

51] When the cat is away, the mice will play

52] Good is good but better carries it

53] The poor suffer all the wrong

54] Where there is whispering there is lying

55] He who wills the end, Wills the means

56] Virtue and happiness are mother and daughter

57] Praise is always pleasant

58] In my own house, I am king

59] There are two sides to every question

60] Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half shut afterwards

61] A hedge between keeps friendship green

62] When the fox preaches, then beware your geese

63] He that shows his purse, longs to be rid of it

64] The unexpected always happens.

65] Care is no cure

66] The hero appears only when the tiger is dead

67] Anger without power is folly

68] A wounded reputation is seldom cured

69] Envy never enriched any man.

70] He who rouses a sleeping tiger exposes himself to danger

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

72] Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them

73] Birds once snared fear all bushes

74] Every may be has a may not be

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

76] Plain dealing is a jewel, but they that use it die beggars

77] Share and share alike

78] It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions but hard to find a cure.

79] A beggar pays a benefit with a louse

80] They can do least two boast loudest

81] He who has seen little marvels much

82] Truth has no need of rhetoric

83] If we have not the world’s wealth, we have the world’s ease

84] He knows on which side his bread is buttered

85] Wrong has no warrant

86] The good intention excuses the bad action

87] If things were to be done twice, all would be wise.

88] No, thank you’ has lost you many a good butter-cake

89] A man’s best fortune, or his worst, is a wife

90] Behind the smile, a dagger may be hidden

91] The bull must be taken by the horns

92] All roads lead to Rome

93] What you don’t know can’t hurt you

94] The healthful man can give counsel to the sick

95] No one ought to judge in his own cause

96] Harp not for ever on the same string

97] The death of the wolves is the safety of the sheep

98] Far from eye, far from heart

99] First thrive then wive

100] Pat any man and dust will fly