Famous Proverbs

1] Each day brings its own bread

2] Men leap over where the hedge is lowest

3] Leave well alone

4] It is profound ignorance that inspires the dogmatic tone

5] Truth has no need of rhetoric

6] Beggars must not be choosers

7] The greatest step is that out of doors

8] Frugality is the mother of virtue

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

10] If the father is spotted, the son will be speckled

11] A bow long bent at last waxes weak

12] We shall lie all alike in our graves

13] It signifies nothing to play well if you lose.

14] Wherever an ass falls, there will he never fall again

15] It is good to follow the old fox

16] Fortune favours fools

17] Patience is the remedy of the world

18] What one loses (or you lose) on the swings, one makes up (or you gain) on the roundabouts

19] Let not thy tongue run away with thy brains

20] The folly of one man is the fortune of another

21] God heals, and the physician takes the fee

22] Death does not recognize strength

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

24] A sluggard takes a hundred steps because he would not take one in due time.

25] Never too late to repent

26] He thinks not well that thinks not again

27] The dancing girl who could not dance, said that the hall was not big enough.

28] It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good

29] The beaten road is the safest

30] The folly of one man is the fortune of another

31] What costs little is little esteemed

32] Do as most men do, then most men well speak well of you

33] He that is down need fear no fall

34] Adversity comes with instruction in its hand

35] Almost’ never killed a fly.

36] The best is often the enemy of the good

37] Take the will for the deed

38] Dying men speak true

39] None so busy as those who do nothing.

40] A guilty conscience feels continual fear

41] All lay loads on a willing horse

42] A merry companion is a wagon on the way

43] After the extreme of cold comes spring

44] No man is a hero to his valet

45] Burn not your house to fright the mouse away

46] Penny wise, pound foolish

47] It is poor dog that is not worth the whistling

48] It is as well to know which way the wind blows

49] Long absent, soon forgotten

50] He that has a full purse never wanted a friend

51] When the boat reaches the middle of the river, it is too late to repair the leak

52] He that will eat the kernel, must crack the nut

53] There is honour among thieves

54] We always weaken whatever we exaggerate

55] None but the brave deserves the fair

56] Honest men marry soon, wise men not at all

57] What everybody says must be true

58] Deliver your words not by number but by weight

59] He that comes of a hen, must scrape

60] The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it

61] Laugh before breakfast, you’ll cry before supper

62] Money breeds (or makes, or begets) money

63] Ugly women finely dressed, are the uglier for it.

64] Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory

65] Blood is thicker than water

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

67] The biter is sometimes bit

68] The cowl does not make the monk.

69] The hand that gives, gathers

70] Many would be cowards, if they had courage enough

71] No pot so ugly as not to find a cover

72] One man’s loss is another’s gain

73] Arms bend inwards – not outwards.

74] You can be head a man but you can’t shut his mouth

75] Petty laws breed great crimes

76] Honest men marry soon, wise men not at all

77] By falling we learn to go safely

78] Better the last smile than the first laugh

79] No man is content with his lot

80] When you live next to a cemetery, you cannot weep for everyone

81] In your anxiety to avoid losing a drop, you spill the whole lot

82] Many doctors, death accomplished

83] A beggar can never be bankrupt

84] A good face is a letter of recommendation

85] Better the foot slip than the tongue

86] When a man grows angry, his reason rides out.

87] Don’t tell tales out of school

88] Our worst misfortunes are those which never befall us

89] Truth has a good face but bad clothes

90] A hedge between keeps friendship green

91] Patience under old injuries invites new ones

92] It is misery enough to have once been happy

93] Golden lads and girls all must, as chimney-sweepers, come to dust

94] A light purse makes a heavy heart

95] When a friend asks, there is not tomorrow

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

97] Light burden I heavy if far borne

98] Even the lion must defend itself against flies

99] We always weaken whatever we exaggerate

100] If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again