Famous Proverbs

1] Be just before you are generous

2] A drowning man will clutch at a straw

3] If he ball does not stick to the wall, it will at least leave a mark

4] Learning makes a good man better and an ill man worse

5] Work has a bitter root but sweet fruit.

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

7] Rule youth well and age will rule itself

8] An ill payer (or paymaster) never wants an excuse

9] Let every pedlar carry his own burden

10] There are more ways to kill a dog than hanging it.

11] We can live without our friends, but not without our neighbours

12] He who does nothing but sits and eats, will wear away a mountain of wealth

13] Cloudy mornings turn to clear afternoons

14] Through hardship to the stars

15] Look before you leap

16] Seeing is believing

17] Throw out a sprat to catch a mackerel

18] One man eats the jackfruit, another gets his hands sticky

19] You cannot sell the cow and sup (or drink) the milk

20] A beggar pays a benefit with a louse

21] A merry companion is a wagon on the way

22] If you would be well served, serve yourself

23] Sometimes the best gain is to lose

24] If Jack’s in love, he’s no judge of Jill’s beauty

25] Love turns pimples

26] Every commodity has its discommodity

27] It is an ill sign to see a fox lick a lamb

28] Lose a leg rather than a life

29] A successful man is seldom at ease; a life of ease does not breed success

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

31] Better eye sore than al blind

32] The first blow is half the battle

33] Give the devil his due

34] If every man would sweep before his own door, the city would soon be clean

35] Blessed is he who excepts nothing, for he shall never be disappointed

36] A single filament of silk does not make a thread; a single tree does not make a forest

37] If the lad goes to the well against his will, either the can will break or the water will spill

38] It is as natural to die as to be born

39] Everyone to his taste

40] Honesty is the best policy

41] A white –wasted crow will not long remain white

42] Love will go through stone walls

43] Better at home than a mile from it

44] Nothing is more contagious than a bad example

45] He who works before dawn will soon be his own master

46] Who keeps company with the wolf, will learn to howl

47] No road is long with good company

48] You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours

49] Pardon makes offenders

50] Don’t play with edged tools

51] An ill payer (or paymaster) never wants an excuse

52] We shall lie all alike in our graves

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

54] Everything is of use to a housekeeper

55] To the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. To a thirsty man any drink is sweet.

56] He that makes himself a sheep, shall be eaten by the wolf

57] The envious grow thin at others’ prosperity

58] If youth knew what age would crave. It would both get and save

59] Who greases his way travels easily

60] It is misery enough to have once been happy

61] An old ox will find a shelter for himself

62] Great trees keep down the little ones

63] He who owes is in all the wrong

64] Comparisons are odious

65] Tomorrow is another day

66] Lavishness is not generosity

67] Nothing is easy to the unwilling

68] Eat a clove of garlic and you smell of garlic; eat two cloves and you smell the same.

69] Pardoning the bad is injuring the good

70] There is no fool like an old fool

71] It is no use spoiling the ship for a half penny worth of tar

72] A curse will not strike out an eye unless a fist goes with it

73] Clothes do not make the man

74] The reason of the strongest is always the best.

75] Talk much end err much

76] Too far east is west

77] He who comes first, grinds first.

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

79] Hope keeps man alive

80] The bigger they are, the harder they fall

81] You cannot put a quart into a pint pot

82] Better wear out shoes than sheers.

83] A nod is as good as wink to a blind horse

84] Ill gotten, ill spent

85] Thatch your roof before the rain begins

86] Sickness shows us what we are

87] Everyone leaps over the dyke where it is lowest

88] God rejoices when one beggar scratches another

89] Fair face, foul heart

90] Better an apple given than eaten

91] A fool at forty is a fool indeed

92] To err is human; to forgive, divine

93] His bark is worse than his bite

94] Laws were made to be broke

95] Sooner begun, sooner done

96] Excessive happiness produces pain

97] One may change the place but not the mind.

98] Might overcome right.

99] Waste not, want not

100] Never look a gift horse in the mouth.