Famous Proverbs

1] Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist

2] The envious grow thin at others’ prosperity

3] Though the food is plain, stomach may be filled; though the cloth is coarse, one may be clad to a ripe old age

4] All is fair in love and war

5] Don’t quarrel with your bread and buffer

6] The thief doth fear each bush an offer

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

8] He that desires but little has no deed of much

9] A change is as good as rest

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

11] If fortune turns against you, even jelly breaks your tooth

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

13] The mob tramples on the coward

14] A growing youth has a wolf in his belly

15] The escaped mouse ever feels the taste of the bait.

16] A merry companion is a wagon on the way

17] Promises may make friends, but it is performances that keep them

18] No convenience without its inconvenience

19] If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well

20] Rip not up old sores

21] Love is sweet torment

22] Step by step the ladder is ascended

23] The morning hour has gold in its mouth

24] Hear twice before you speak once

25] Man cannot live by bread alone

26] Too much cunning undoes

27] Extremes are dangerous

28] He travels the fastest who travels alone

29] There is many a good tune played on an old fiddle

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

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

32] No man is a hero to his valet

33] A bad padlock invites a picklock

34] To fright a bird is not the way to catch her

35] Where there is no might, right loses itself

36] A good marksman may miss

37] It is easier to pour away water than to gather it.

38] Ill news comes apace.

39] There is no accounting for tastes

40] As long as the old horse lives, his habits will not change

41] Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise

42] Whom god loves, his house is sweet to him

43] Let every pedlar carry his own burden

44] Where the dam leaps over, the kid follows

45] Children have wide ears and long tongues.

46] Barking dogs seldom bite

47] Good counsel has no price. Nothing is given so freely as advice.

48] Mix work with pleasure and you will never go mad.

49] He that has a fellow-ruler, has an over-ruler. ¶ There is no good accord, where every man would be a lord

50] It is the unexpected that always happens

51] Don’t make a mountain out of molehill

52] Good hand, good hire

53] Gluttony kills more than the sword

54] The loftiest towers rise from the ground

55] Black will take no other hue

56] Fair without, false within

57] The age of miracles is past

58] Honesty is ill to thrive by

59] The value of money is having it.

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

61] Every bean has its black

62] Small gifts make friends, great ones make enemies

63] You must grin and bear it

64] The whole boat is putrid because of a single carp

65] All glory comes from daring to begin

66] First impressions are most lasting

67] He that dwells next door to a cripple, will learn to halt

68] Of three main roads, take the middle one

69] Solitude is the best nurse of wisdom

70] He that commits a fault, thinks everyone speaks of it.

71] Cheats never prosper

72] A willing helper does not wait until he is asked.

73] Discontent is the first step in progress

74] Often and little eating makes a man fat

75] Precepts may lead but examples draw

76] Better an open enemy than a false friend

77] As you plant wild grass, you won’t get a crop of rice.

78] First catch your hare

79] In vain they rise early that used to rise late

80] If you can’t bite, never show your teeth.

81] Diseases are the price of ill pleasures

82] Through obedience learn to command.

83] A fool at forty is a fool indeed

84] Time flees without a delay

85] The fairest flowers soonest fade

86] The weeds overgrow the corn.

87] Other times, other manners

88] When someone gives up a peach, return him a plum

89] Success has many friends

90] Even the lion must defend itself against flies

91] Affection blinds reason

92] Let not thy tongue run away with thy brains

93] Faint heart never won fair lady

94] Fortune does not stand waiting at any man’s door

95] Never tell your enemy that your foot aches

96] He who excuses himself accuses himself

97] Trust is the mother of deceit

98] The rich knows not who is his friend

99] Live not to eat, but eat to live

100] Tell the truth and shame the devil