Famous Proverbs

1] It is too late to lock the stable when the horse has been stolen

2] If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite

3] He that will steal a pin will steal a better thing

4] He that is long a-giving knows not how to give

5] A good wife is a good prize

6] A word is enough to the wise

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

8] Neither praise nor dispraise thyself; thy actions serve the turn

9] Don’t cross the bridge before you get to it

10] Clean and whole makes poor clothes shine.

11] The child is father of the man

12] He who has a mind to beat his dog will easily find a stick.

13] A good servant should never be in the way and never out of the way

14] Hitch your wagon to a star

15] Curiosity killed the cat.

16] An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains

17] Acorns were good till bread was found

18] Better go about than fall in to the ditch

19] The good intention excuses the bad action

20] At open doors, dogs come in

21] Words fly, writings remain

22] Like will to like

23] A horse that will not carry a saddle must have no oats.

24] He who does no good, does evil enough

25] Easy come, easy go

26] Mount Fuji itself is not So beautiful to one who is cold and hungry

27] The blind man is not afraid of ghosts

28] If the father is a tiger, the son cannot be a dog.

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

30] Nothing so bad in which there is not something of good

31] Desert and reward seldom keep company

32] Expectation is better than realisation

33] Whether the pitcher strikes the stone, or the stone the pitcher, it is bad for the pitcher

34] Long life has long misery

35] Erring is not heating

36] He that compiles against his will, is of his own opinion still

37] All men are mortal

38] Facts are stubborn things

39] Debt is an evil conscience

40] All are not saints that go to church

41] The bait hides the hook

42] A joke’s a very serious thing

43] Pride is at the bottom of all mistakes

44] He stands not surely that never slips

45] Tigers and deer do not over.

46] Cut your coat according to your cloth

47] It is a blind goose that comes to the fox’s sermon

48] Much law but little justice

49] When the ear will not listen, the heart escapes sorrow

50] He that peeps in at his neighbor’s window may chance to lose his eyes

51] He thinks not well that thinks not again

52] The best is often the enemy of the good

53] One needs a full stomach to keep the precepts

54] Necessity and opportunity may make a coward valiant

55] He learned timely to beg that could not say ‘Nay’

56] The devil dances in an empty pocket

57] Nature will have her course

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

59] Either mend or end

60] Rust wastes more than use

61] He that is born a fool is never cured

62] The labour we delight in physics pain

63] Kind hearts are soonest wronged

64] A good conscience is a soft pillow

65] Half an egg is better than empty shell

66] An obedient wife commands her husband

67] The noblest vengeance is to forgive

68] In a church, in an inn, and in a coffin, all men are equal

69] Every path has a puddle

70] The grace of God enough

71] Man cannot live by bread alone

72] A good heart conquers ill fortune

73] Fields have eyes and woods have ears

74] The best remedy against an ill man, is much ground between

75] Fortune favours those who use their judgement

76] When I lent, I was a friend; and when I asked, I was unkind

77] The righteous man sins before an open chest

78] What is worth doing is worth doing well

79] He that has no shame has no conscience

80] Step by step the ladder is ascended

81] Rome was not built in a day

82] Patience is a flower that grows not in everyone’s garden

83] Threatened folk live long

84] The physician who praises himself has no good medicine

85] An angry man is not fit to pray

86] They can do least two boast loudest

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

88] A liar can go round the world but cannot come back

89] A burthen of one’s own choice is not felt

90] Good advice (or counsel) is beyond price

91] When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war

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

93] Why play the harp to a buffalo?

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

95] Virtue is praised by all, but practiced by few

96] Everyone is a kin to the rich man

97] Covetousness breaks the sack

98] Death devours lambs as well as sheep

99] Every dog is a lion at home

100] Ignorance is the peace of life