Famous Proverbs

1] Practice makes perfect

2] When a man is happy, he does not hear the clock strike

3] He who hesitates is lost

4] No man is the worse for knowing the worst of himself

5] Everyone puts his fault on the times.

6] A contented mind is a perpetual feast

7] One learns to know oneself best behind one’s back

8] Save your breath to cool the porridge

9] No good building without a good foundation.

10] Names are debts

11] Do not limp before the lame

12] Bear and forbear

13] He that pities another remembers himself

14] The perfect good is the exercise of virtue

15] Everything is of use to a housekeeper

16] Water far away will not extinguish a fire that is nearby; relatives far from you are not as good as neighbours close to you.

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

18] Have patience with a friend rather than lost him forever.

19] If the cap fits, wear it

20] Easier said than done

21] If you run after two hares, you will catch neither

22] Of thy sorrow be not too sad, of thy joy be not too glad

23] Comparisons are odious

24] Fair face, foul heart

25] Necessity is mother of invention

26] Long life has long misery

27] The ass that brays most eats

28] Praise without profit puts little in the pot

29] He that serves well need not be afraid to ask his wages

30] Make yourself all honey and the flies will devour you

31] Those who are used to the signs of the dumb, understand them

32] Wrong never comes right

33] There’s no fence against ill fortune.

34] Give a fool (or a thief) enough rope and he will hang himself

35] The more you have the more you want

36] Armies are maintained for years to be used on a single day.

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

38] The poor sit on the front benches in Paradise

39] He that promises too much means nothing

40] Poverty is no disgrace but it is a great inconvenience

41] Silence gives (or means) consent

42] Lookers-on see most of the game

43] Truth lies at the bottom of the well

44] The purse of the patient protracts the disease

45] A strong town is not won in an hour

46] The mob tramples on the coward

47] Learning is the eye of the mind

48] Dirty linen should be washed at home

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

50] Praise makes good men better and bad men worse

51] It is not the hood that makes the monk.

52] Desire beautifies what is ugly

53] Time flees without a delay

54] Where there is no might, right loses itself

55] More have repented speech than silence

56] Tomorrow never comes

57] It is a poor (or sad) heart that never rejoices

58] The remedy for injuries is not to remember them

59] Conscience is a thousand witnesses

60] Wise men learn by other men’s harm, fools, by their own

61] Good fences make good neighbours

62] Woes unite foes

63] Clean and whole makes poor clothes shine.

64] The orange that is too hard squeezed yields a bitter juice

65] He that would know what shall be, must consider what has been

66] He that dwells next door to a cripple, will learn to halt

67] Repentance comes too late

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

69] All must be as God will

70] The great fish eat up the small

71] Things are seldom what they seem.

72] He who has seen little marvels much

73] A true man and a thief think not the same

74] The last straw breaks the camel’s back

75] Best is cheapest

76] Never judge from appearances

77] Nothing is so popular as kindness.

78] Three helping one another, bear the burthen of six.

79] Good merchandise finds a ready buyer

80] The soldier who retreated fifty paces laughed at the one who had fallen back a hundred paces

81] Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage

82] Long roads test the horse; long dealings test the friend

83] The higher you climb, the harder you fall

84] Never too late to repent

85] Of evil manners, spring good laws

86] If there were no clouds, we should not enjoy the sun

87] A successful man is seldom at ease; a life of ease does not breed success

88] Knowledge is power

89] Don’t go near the water until you learn how to swim

90] He that loveth danger shall perish therein

91] Wake not a sleeping lion

92] Though it rains gold and silver there, it’s a foreign land; though it rains daggers and spears here, it’s our own country

93] A fool may give a wise counsel. A fool’s bolt may sometimes hit the mark.

94] Wrong never comes right

95] The Pen is mightier than the sword

96] When good cheer is lacking, our friends will be packing

97] Who hath a good trade, through all waters may wade

98] A kind heart loseth nought at last.

99] Mount Fuji itself is not So beautiful to one who is cold and hungry

100] Don’t tell tales out of school