Famous Proverbs

1] Example, is better than precept

2] Think of ease, but work on.

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

4] He is an ill husband who is not missed

5] Fool rush in where angels fear to trend

6] By doing nothing, we learn to do ill

7] Bold resolution is the favourite of providence

8] No one is rich enough to do without his neighbours

9] Four eyes see more than two

10] Children and fools must not play with edged tools

11] A man turned pig no longer fears filth

12] A hungry man smells meat afar off

13] What cannot gold do?

14] A pound of care will not pay an ounce of debt.

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

16] Hope is but the dream of those that wake

17] The quarrel of lovers is the renewal of love

18] One sword keeps another in the sheath

19] No one ought to judge in his own cause

20] A cat has nine lives

21] Enough is enough

22] Everything comes to him who waits

23] Nature will have her course

24] An old horse knows the route

25] Goodness is better than beauty

26] Two heads are better than one

27] Old habits die hard

28] Ignorance is the peace of life

29] The peony, though large, is useless; the date blossom, though small, yields fruit

30] Little birds that can sing and won’t sing should be made to sing

31] Fools rush in where angles fear to tread

32] First try and then trust

33] If cattle are scattered, the tiger seizes them.

34] A spear you can see can easily be avoided; a hidden arrows is difficult to guard against.

35] Hungry bellies have no ears

36] What costs little is little esteemed

37] An arrow shot upright falls on the shooter’s head

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

39] Even though one’s aunt sells the cakes, one will not buy unless they are cheap.

40] Better eye sore than al blind

41] Care killed the cat

42] A drowning man will clutch at a straw

43] If the wise erred not, it would go hard with fools.

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

45] A good drink makes the old young

46] A man may lose more in an hour than he can get in seven

47] Drops that gather one by one finally become a sea

48] It is not the burden but the overburden that kills the beast

49] Advise none to marry or to go to war

50] A hedge between keeps friendship green

51] All things that great men do are well done

52] No, thank you’ has lost you many a good butter-cake

53] Despair gives courage to a coward

54] Cease to hope and you will cease to fear.

55] Constant dripping (or dropping) wears away the stone

56] He’s his father’s (or mother’s) son

57] The absent party is always to blame.

58] Great oaks from little acorns grow

59] Excessive politeness is often a cloak for insincerity

60] We live by laws, not by examples

61] Take not a musket to kill a butterfly

62] A fool’s bolt may sometimes hit the mark

63] We always weaken whatever we exaggerate

64] The time to come is no more ours than the time past

65] The more cost, the more honour

66] Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches

67] Drive thy business or it will drive thee.

68] Money refused loses its brightness

69] Love sees no fault

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

71] The best fish swim near the bottom

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

73] Virtue has all things in itself

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

75] A fool always rushes to the fore.

76] A jack of all traders is master of none

77] He that blows best, bears away the horn

78] A gift much expected is paid, not given

79] The thief doth fear each bush an offer

80] Black will take no other hue

81] A good anvil does not fear the hammer

82] A ragged colt may make a good horse.

83] Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard

84] You never know your luck

85] Haste makes waste

86] A blind man who sees is better than a seeing man who is blind

87] The more laws, the more offenders

88] A secret fire is discovered by the smoke

89] Dead men don’t bite

90] The eye of the master will do more work than both his hands

91] He who says what he likes shall hear what he does not like

92] It is easy to move rivers and mountains, but difficult to change a person’s basic nature

93] They that value not praise, will never do anything worthy of praise

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

95] Beauty is eloquent even when silent

96] Like breeds like

97] There is nothing new under the sun

98] When in Rome, do as the Romans do

99] In haste is error

100] It will be the same a hundred years hence