Famous Proverbs

1] You see a man’s face but not his heart.

2] Nature hates all sudden changes

3] What’s the good of thatching someone else’s roof?

4] It is not gay coat that makes the gentleman

5] Tell a lie and stick to it.

6] If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

7] He who cannot bear misfortune is truly unfortunate.

8] Marriage makes or mars a man

9] To err is human; to forgive, divine

10] It is too late to call back yesterday

11] Anger and haste hinder good counsel

12] Evil often triumphs but never conquers.

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

14] T’ is safest making peace with sword in hand

15] If we have not the world’s wealth, we have the world’s ease

16] The hunchback does not see his own hump, but his companion’s

17] A lion may come to be beholden to a mouse

18] A creaking gate (or door) hangs long

19] All’s grist that comes to the mill.

20] It is well to live that one may learn

21] Never judge from appearances

22] A stitch in time saves nine

23] Penny wise, pound foolish

24] They also serve who only stand and wait

25] III luck is good for something

26] He that repairs not a part, builds all

27] The tree that god plants, no wind hurts it

28] Fall not into the fire when you try to avoid smoke

29] Let not your tongue run at rover

30] Idleness (or An idle brain) is the devil’s workshop

31] Noting is impossible to a willing heart

32] Parents are patterns

33] Better a louse in the pot than no flesh at all

34] Pardon one offence and you encourage many

35] Why play music for a deal man or dance for a blind man?

36] Do it now

37] One pair of heels is often worth two pairs of hands

38] No one ought to judge in his own cause

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

40] Arms bend inwards – not outwards.

41] A man can do no more than he can

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

43] A beggar can never be bankrupt

44] It is a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock

45] One sheep follows another

46] Dead men don’t bite

47] If you can’t bite, never show your teeth.

48] Fools rush in where angles fear to tread

49] Venture a small fish to catch a great one.

50] Children and chickens must be always picking

51] Calamity is the touchstone of a brave mind

52] The leopard cannot change its spots

53] Truthfulness becomes the gentleman

54] Great talkers are never great doers

55] Barking dogs seldom bite

56] Don’t cry stinking fish

57] Between two stools you fall to the ground

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

59] A learned man has always riches in himself

60] Small is beautiful

61] A little is better than none

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

63] Lose a leg rather than a life

64] Wise men learn by other men’s harms (or mistakes), fools, by their own

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

66] Repentance is a bitter physic

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

68] Crime does not pay

69] Be not too bold with your biggers or betters

70] A good friend is my nearest relation

71] Better some of a pudding than none of a pie.

72] However much the arm may swing out, the armpit is where it sticks

73] Excessive politeness is often a cloak for insincerity

74] Content is more than a kingdom

75] God’s lambs will play.

76] No one betrays himself by silence

77] They bow to you when borrowing; you bow to them when collecting

78] More have repented speech than silence

79] A fool’s mouth is his destruction

80] What everybody says must be true

81] Make hay while the sun shines

82] Poverty obstructs the road to virtue

83] From small beginnings come great things

84] Self-preservation is the first law of nature

85] Misfortune tells us what fortune is

86] No cross, no crown

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

88] Novelty always appears handsome

89] Drunkards and fools cannot lie.

90] Learning is a treasure which accompanies its owner everywhere.

91] If you would be well served, serve yourself

92] Better be first in a village than second at Rome

93] III counsel mars all

94] He who sits in the well to observe the sky does not see very much.

95] Suffering does not manifest itself

96] It is the unexpected that always happens

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

98] See how the wind blows

99] Lightning never strikes twice in the same place

100] Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise