Famous Proverbs

1] A good face is a letter of recommendation

2] If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

3] Naturally the same beans from the same bin.

4] Weapons breed peace

5] Good counsel never comes amiss

6] Better be born lucky than wise.

7] A good heart conquers ill fortune

8] Some people will never learn anything because they understand everything too soon.

9] It is ill jesting with edged tools

10] When you are an anvil, hold still; when you are an anvil, hold still; when you are a hammer, strike your fill.

11] When it pleases not God, the saint can do little

12] The bird is known by his note, the man by his words

13] No hair so small but has his shadow

14] Once you have been bitten by a snake, even a piece of cord will frighten you.

15] He conquers who endures

16] Of the ten fingers, some are long and some are short.

17] The great fish eat up the small

18] Love laughs at locksmiths

19] All things are difficult before they are easy

20] Call a spade a spade

21] The mouse that has but one hole is quickly taken

22] Better an open enemy than a false friend

23] Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

24] Bold resolution is the favourite of providence

25] Out of the frying-pan into the fire

26] Ill weeds grow apace (or fast)

27] War, hunting and love are as full of trouble as pleasure

28] Distance lends enchantment to the view

29] Marriage is a lottery

30] A healthy man is a successful man

31] Almost’ never killed a fly.

32] Boys will be boys

33] Patch by patch is good housewifery, but patch upon patch is plain beggary

34] Go to bed with the lamb, and rise with the lark

35] Throw out a sprat to catch a mackerel

36] Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth

37] Self-praise is no recommendation

38] God helps those who help themselves

39] Help a lame dog over a stile

40] The charitable give out at the door, and God puts in at the window

41] We have all been once in our life

42] Tigers and deer do not over.

43] Give him (or knaves) an inch and he (they) will take a yard (or mile)

44] A child can have too much of his mother’s blessings

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

46] The strength of the chain is in the weakest link.

47] He that sows thistles shall reap prickles.

48] The grapes are sour’, as the fox said when he could not reach them

49] If you trust before you try, you may repent before you die

50] God sends cold after Clothes

51] No misfortune will go on forever

52] Fortune favours fools

53] All griefs with bread are less

54] Sometimes clemency is cruelty, and cruelty clemency

55] Good hand, good hire

56] Sickness soaks the purse

57] Long absent, soon forgotten

58] Everyone puts his fault on the times.

59] Mustard is a good sauce, but mirth is better

60] Those who live near water know the nature of fish; those who live near hills know the calls of birds

61] What is the good of a sundial in the shade?

62] Speech is silver, silence is golden

63] No news is good news

64] Custom takes the taste from the most savoury dishes

65] The more laws, the more offenders

66] When meat is in anger is out

67] A bad shearer never had a good sickle

68] Wise men learn by other men’s harms (or mistakes), fools, by their own

69] When you do not know what to do – wait.

70] Travel with open eyes and you will become a scholar

71] A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds

72] Fish begins to stink at the head

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

74] An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth

75] Take things as you find them

76] An honest good look covers many faults.

77] Dream of a funeral and you hear of a marriage

78] The golden age was never the present age

79] The axe falls on a straight tree first

80] All’s fair in love and war

81] Curiosity is ill manners in another’s house

82] A penny saved is a penny gained

83] There are spots even in the sun

84] Small is the seed of every greatness

85] He that comes first to the hill, may sit where he will.

86] No man is infallible

87] Half a loaf is better than do bread

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

89] The peacock has fair features, but foul feet.

90] If today will not, tomorrow may

91] A good paymaster never wants workmen

92] Dress up a stick and it does not appear to be a stick

93] It is the lot of a king to do well but to be ill-spoken of

94] Beauty draws more than oxen

95] Respect is greater from a distance

96] Crowns have cares

97] Shame in a kindred cannot be avoided

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

99] Envy eats nothing but it own heart

100] Man may have a thousand plans, but god’s plan is best