Famous Proverbs

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

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

3] Talk of the devil, and he is bound to appear

4] Cross the stream where it is shallowest

5] To know the husband, observe the face of the wife

6] It is ill sitting at Rome and striving against the pope

7] Who greases his way travels easily

8] Self do, self have

9] He that ventures not fails not.

10] The great would have none great, and the little all little

11] He that desires but little has no deed of much

12] Absence makes the heart grow fonder

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

14] Love sees no fault

15] Content lodges oftener in cottages than palaces

16] Every medal has two sides

17] Man does what he can, and God what he will

18] He who seizes the right moment is the right man

19] It is too late to grieve when the chance is past

20] Never catch a falling knife or a falling friend

21] Where the dam leaps over, the kid follows

22] It is lawful to learn even from an enemy

23] Adam’s ale is the best brew

24] Under the tongue, men are crushed to death

25] The tongue talks at the heads cost

26] Manners make the man

27] Good luck beats early rising

28] Take not a musket to kill a butterfly

29] One can’t go to bed when a visit or stays late

30] III luck is good for something

31] Many hands make light work

32] The first day a guest, the second day a guest, the third day a calamity

33] One needs a full stomach to keep the precepts

34] Only with a new ruler do you realize the value of the old

35] The little cannot be great unless he devours many

36] A penny weight of love is worth a pound of law

37] Poor men go to heaven as soon as rich

38] Dumb dogs are dangerous

39] Mere wishes are silly fishes

40] Every dog is valiant at his won door

41] Will is no skill

42] He that would the daughter win, must with the mother first begin

43] Spread the table, and contention will cease

44] Virtue has all things in itself

45] Knowledge humbles the great man, astonishes the common man and puffeth up the little man

46] A good payer is master of another’s purse

47] Small gifts make friends, great ones make enemies

48] Fools grow without watering.

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

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

51] Even dust, when piled up, may form a hill

52] Truth is stranger than fiction

53] All things for not all persons

54] All must be as God will

55] Company in misery makes it light

56] The money you refuse will never do you good

57] The leopard cannot change its spots

58] The game is not worth the candle

59] Wise men are caught in wiles

60] A barber learns to shave by shaving fools

61] A cotton dress wants to be alongside a silk one

62] Cheats never prosper

63] Though the food is plain, stomach may be filled; though the cloth is coarse, one may be clad to a ripe old age

64] Words bind men

65] Throw out a sprat to catch a mackerel

66] Never too late to learn

67] Though a lie be swift the truth overtakes it

68] Judge not of men and things at first sight

69] You know what you can do till you try.

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

71] Anger restrained is wisdom gained

72] He that has a wife, has strife

73] He who does no good, does evil enough

74] Almost’ never killed a fly.

75] Weapons breed peace

76] Too much money makes one mad

77] Fools rush in where angles fear to tread

78] Clean and whole makes poor clothes shine.

79] Fear of death is worse than death itself

80] Sour, sweet, bitter and pungent flavours must all be tasted

81] Fools rejoice at promises

82] The shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot.

83] He that touches pitch shall be defiled

84] A good tongue is a good weapon

85] Bread is the staff of life.

86] Choose thy company before thy drink

87] The slowest barker is the surest biter

88] What cannot gold do?

89] Good riding at two anchors, men have told, for if one breaks the other may hold

90] Drinking water neither makes a man sick, nor in debt, nor his wife a widow

91] Tune the harp strings to be neither too loose nor too taut

92] First try and then trust

93] The eye that sees all things else sees not itself

94] The wish is father to the thought

95] Young saint, old devil.

96] The great fish eat up the small

97] Look at the bright side

98] Let not thy tongue run away with thy brains

99] Dog does not eat dog

100] Least said, soonest mended