Famous Proverbs

1] It is late to cover the well when the child is drowned.

2] Give a dog a bad name and hang him

3] There’s a black sheep in every flock

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

5] No man is his craft’s master the first day

6] The tongue is more venomous than a serpent’s sting

7] Fair play’s a jewel

8] The last straw breaks the camel’s back

9] Never was a cat or dog drowned, that could but see the shore

10] The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

11] The biter is sometimes bit

12] A stitch in time saves nine

13] A man in debt is caught in a net

14] He who does not rise with the sun does not enjoy the day

15] With patience and time, the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown

16] The pitcher goes so often to me well that it is broken at last

17] Steer not after every mariner’s direction

18] Reputation is often got without merit, and lost without crime

19] The earthen pot must keep clear of the brass kettle

20] Credit lost is like a Venice glass broken

21] Mischief comes by the pound and goes away by the ounce

22] As you make your bed, you must lie on it

23] Fortune favours the brave (or bold).

24] One drop of poison infects the whole tun of wine

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

26] The submitting to one wrong brings on another

27] The blind man is not afraid of ghosts

28] An open door may tempt a saint

29] Enquire not what boils in another’s pot. ¶ Listeners seldom hear good of themselves

30] He that has nothing need fear to lose nothing

31] An evil life is a kind of death.

32] Nothing comes from nothing

33] Long absent, soon forgotten

34] Truth has no need of rhetoric

35] Better be first in a village than second at Rome

36] Virtue has all things in itself

37] A heavy purse makes a light heart

38] Wherever an ass falls, there will he never fall again

39] The age of miracles is past

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

41] The cow knows not what her tail is worth till she has lost it

42] The envious grow thin at others’ prosperity

43] What is new cannot be true

44] All for one, and one for all.

45] Love is a disease, and the loved on is the only medicine

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

47] One sheep follows another

48] Live and Learn

49] Lovers’ quarrels are soon mended

50] All must be as God will

51] A man of courage never wants weapons

52] Plain dealing is best

53] Ill luck is good for something

54] Habits are at first cobwebs, at last cables.

55] He is an ill husband who is not missed

56] The dancing girl who could not dance, said that the hall was not big enough.

57] Pardoning the bad is injuring the good

58] Fools rush in where angles fear to tread

59] Children and chickens must be always picking

60] He that is in poverty is still in suspicion

61] The lion had need of the mouse

62] Like breeds like

63] He that praises himself, spatters himself

64] Dying is as natural as living

65] Wash your dirty linen at home

66] Everyone leaps over the dyke where it is lowest

67] Take not a musket to kill a butterfly

68] Why does one man’s yawning make another yawn?

69] Dogs that bark at a distance bite not at hand

70] 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

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

72] He who aims at the moon may hit the top of a tree; he who aims at the top of a tree is unlikely to get off the ground

73] That which Nature paints never fades

74] Wrong has no warrant

75] After dinner sit a while, after supper walk a mile.

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

77] Habit is second nature

78] A rich man’s joke is always funny

79] The king can do no wrong

80] All doors open to courtesy

81] Old habits die hard

82] The devil is not as black as he is painted

83] It is an ill bargain where no man wins

84] Self do, self have

85] A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his home

86] When two tigers fight, one is sure to be hurt

87] He that tells a secret, is another’s servant.

88] Everything in moderation.

89] Misfortune does not always come to injure

90] A word before is worth two behind

91] What is shown by example, men think they may justly do

92] The greatest step is that out of doors

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

94] As long lives a merry man as a sad

95] You win some, you lose some

96] It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good

97] A thief knows a thief knows a thief as a wolf knows a wolf

98] An egg thief will become a camel thief

99] He loses his thanks who promises and delays

100] Eat at pleasure, drink by measure