Famous Proverbs

1] The poor suffer all the wrong

2] If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must go to the mountain.

3] What will not money do?

4] A forced kindness deserves no thanks

5] An oak is not felled at one stroke

6] Lightning never strikes twice in the same place

7] While the word is in your mouth, it is your own; when ‘tis another’s

8] To be discontented is to be like a snake trying to swallow an elephant

9] Do as the friar says, not as he does

10] A burdened conscience will never need a hangman

11] A true friend is forever a friend

12] Variety is charming

13] Spend and be free, but make no waste

14] Content is the philosopher’s stone that turns all it touches in to gold

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

16] The devil tempts all, but the idle man tempts the devil

17] When we sing, everybody hears us; when sigh, nobody hears us

18] Let another’s shipwreck be you sea-mark.

19] There’s small choice in rotten apples.

20] Long absent, soon forgotten

21] He that ventures not fails not.

22] Change of pasture makes fat calves

23] When misfortune sleeps, let no one wake her

24] The rich knows not who is his friend

25] A man’s best fortune, or his worst, is a wife

26] If the thorn falls, the leaf is pierced; if the leaf falls the leaf is pierced

27] Big words seldom go with good deeds

28] Repentance is a bitter physic

29] Better be a fool than a knave

30] Thatch your roof before the rain begins

31] Lend your money and lose a friend

32] It is not every question that deserves an answer

33] Divide and rule

34] A fool believes everything

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

36] A bad excuse is better than none at all

37] If you cannot bite never show your teeth

38] Marriages are made in heaven

39] He that will not endure to itch must endure to smart

40] It is too late to husband when all is spent

41] When it rains porridge, the beggar has no spoon.

42] Give and spend, and God will send

43] Every dog has his (its) day

44] Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny

45] Truth is god’s daughter

46] The first time, a novice the second time, an adept

47] Tempt not a desperate man

48] Manners make the man

49] Make the best of a bad bargain

50] A good name is sooner lost than won

51] There is no redemption from hell

52] Learn to walk before you run

53] The whole boat is putrid because of a single carp

54] Hard cases make bad law

55] One can’t help many, but many can help one

56] Cast not the first stone.

57] A miss is as good as a mile

58] Gold may be bought too dear

59] If you walk in the sun, you will know the blessedness of being in the shade

60] A good word for a bad one is worth much and costs little

61] A blister will rise upon one’s tongue that tells a lie

62] Take away fuel, take away flame

63] He knows on which side his bread is buttered

64] Every man praises his own wares

65] It is the first step that is troublesome

66] The best things carried to excess are wrong

67] Like mistress, like maid

68] He should have a long spoon who sups with the devil.

69] Even reckoning makes long friends

70] Nothing is so certain as death

71] A man of gladness seldom falls into madness

72] Homer sometimes nods

73] He laughs best who laughs last

74] Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves

75] Ill luck is good for something

76] Submitting to one wrong brings on another.

77] If things were to be done twice, all would be wise.

78] He that has no shame has no conscience

79] A door must be either shut or open

80] Men are not to be measured in inches

81] A rich man can do nothing wrong

82] Don’t play with fire

83] It is ill striving (or swimming) against the stream (or tide)

84] If things were to be done twice, all would be wise.

85] Hunger is the best sauce

86] The good is often the enemy of the best

87] When in doubt, do nothing

88] To refuse and to give tardily is all the same

89] Give a servant a rod, and he’ll beat his master

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

91] Distance lends enchantment to the view

92] Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him

93] He who holds the ladder is as bad as the thief

94] The exception proves the rule

95] Our worst misfortunes are those which never befall us

96] Confession of our fault is the next thing to innocence

97] No convenience without its inconvenience

98] The least boy always carries the greatest fiddle

99] Many a true word is spoken in jest

100] Absence makes the heart grow fonder