Famous Proverbs

1] Give and take is fair play

2] Keep not ill men company, lest you increase the number

3] Enough is enough

4] History repeats itself

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

6] False friends are worse than bitter enemies.

7] An ass must be tied where the master will have him

8] An honest good look covers many faults.

9] It is equally an error to trust all men or no man

10] The mob tramples on the coward

11] Cheats never prosper

12] Without wisdom, wealth is worthless

13] Time lost cannot be recalled

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

15] When one door shuts, another opens

16] God arms the harmless

17] He who squeezes in between the onion and the peel, picks up its stink.

18] Opportunity seldom knocks twice

19] A bully never grows up.

20] Law cannot persuade where it cannot punish

21] Far from eye, far from heart

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

23] Desires are nourished by delays

24] The tide never goes out so far but it always comes in again

25] The kind-hearted person has a heavy load.

26] Never spur a willing horse

27] He should have (or He needs) a long spoon who sups with the devil

28] It is a great victory that comes without blood

29] One man’s loss is another’s gain

30] Every law has a loophole

31] Findings are keepings

32] Nothing befalls any man which he is not fitted to endure

33] Welcome is the best dish in the kitchen

34] Fools grow without watering.

35] Hew not too high lest the chips fall in thine eye

36] A good paymaster never wants workmen

37] There’s no such thing as free as a free lunch

38] Honey catches more files than vinegar.

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

40] Money isn’t everything

41] He who never was sick dies the first fit

42] They bow to you when borrowing; you bow to them when collecting

43] Truth may walk through the world unarmed

44] Hasty work, double work,

45] Better to wear out than rust out

46] Borrowed garments never fit well

47] He that will steal an egg, will steal an ox

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

49] Nature is the true law

50] It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead for the rest of your life

51] Content is more than a kingdom

52] Self do, self have

53] All cats are grey in the dark

54] There is no royal road to learning

55] You cannot get ivory from a dog’s mouth

56] One swallow does not make a summer

57] Even the compelling beauty of the Diamond Mountain cannot be appreciated when the stomach is empty

58] A merry companion is a wagon on the way

59] Will without reason is blind, and against reason, is mad

60] Love turns pimples

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

62] Time has wings

63] Curiosity killed the cat.

64] A rich man can do nothing wrong

65] One father is more than a hundred school masters

66] It is easier to commend poverty than endure it.

67] Man cannot live by bread alone

68] Bear with evil and expect good

69] Birds of a feather flock together

70] Penny wise, pound foolish

71] It is ill jesting with edged tools

72] Virtue has all things in itself

73] There is a black sheep in every flock

74] One good deed makes up for a thousand bad ones.

75] He that mischief hatches mischief catches.

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

77] What can’t be cured must be endured

78] Love sees no fault

79] Books and friends should be few but good

80] Calamity is man’s true touchstone

81] Truth has no need of rhetoric

82] Advice is something the wise don’t need and fools won’t take

83] Don’t build the sty before the litter comes

84] A barber learns to shave by shaving fools

85] It is easy to do what one’s own self wills

86] Fortune favours the brave (or bold).

87] Work smart; don’t work hard

88] No answer is also an answer

89] A little body often harbours a great soul

90] How who makes no mistakes, makes nothing.

91] Names and natures do often agree

92] A thousand cranes in the air are not worth one sparrow in the fist.

93] Give me fire and I’ll give you light

94] Like breeds like

95] The dog is a lion in his own house

96] How ever much you learn, you won’t know how to raise the dead

97] He who does not rise early never does a good day’s work

98] Naughty boys sometimes make good men.

99] If you would know the value of a ducat, try to borrow one

100] It is no use crying over spilt milk