Famous Proverbs

1] Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it

2] If one sheep leaps over the ditch (or dyke), all the rest will follow

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

4] Health is better than wealth

5] An ill tongue may do much

6] Because he would not eat it, the food got maggoty

7] Love is a disease, and the loved on is the only medicine

8] All is vanity.

9] The devil dances in an empty pocket

10] The heart soon forgets what the eye sees not

11] Where grooms and householders are all alike great, very disastrous will it be for the houses and all that dwell in them

12] Brevity is the soul of wit

13] Slander leaves a sc ore behind it

14] All heiresses are beautiful.

15] Marriage halves our griefs, doubles our joys and quadruples our expenses

16] At the game’s end we shall see who gains

17] Set a wolf to keep the sheep

18] It is a poor kin that has neither whore nor thief in it

19] Affection blinds reason

20] Friendship cannot stand always on one side

21] There’s no place like home

22] Truth is god’s daughter

23] Anger restrained is wisdom gained

24] Trust is the mother of deceit

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

26] Poverty is not a crime

27] See which way the cat jumps

28] Do not triumph before the victory

29] Young colts will canter.

30] All for one, and one for all.

31] To advise someone not to gamble is to win money for him

32] Cloudy mornings turn to clear afternoons

33] He who begins many things, finishes but few

34] Every deed is to be judges by the doer’s intention.

35] Accidents will happen in the best regulated families

36] A man’s best fortune, or his worst, is a wife

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

38] He that speaks not, God hears not

39] Put not the bucket too often in the well

40] That fish will soon be caught that nibbles at every bait

41] Actions speak louder than words

42] If the father is a tiger, the son cannot be a dog.

43] A fault once denied is twice committed

44] When a tiger dies, it leaves a skin; when a man dies, he leaves a name

45] If you pay not a servant his wages, he will pay himself

46] You must grin and bear it

47] A burdened conscience will never need a hangman

48] There is nothing that costs less than civility

49] Words have wings, and cannot be recalled

50] Patience is a virtue

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

52] Wine is one thing; drunkenness another

53] Don’t hallo (or shout, or whistle) until you are out of the wood

54] There are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream.

55] God gives us the milk, but not the pail

56] Self-preservation is the first law of nature

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

58] Even water has its ebb and flow

59] Good wine needs no bush

60] We should publish our joys and conceal our griefs

61] A closed mouth catches no files

62] He should have (or He needs) a long spoon who sups with the devil

63] He who makes no mistakes makes nothing

64] Many hands make light work

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

66] Nothing venture (or ventured), nothing gain (or gained)

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

68] Judge not of men and things at first sight

69] Every lot is to be overcome by endurance

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

71] He that goes a borrowing goes a-sorrowing

72] Wine and wenches empty men’s purses

73] Conscience is a thousand witnesses

74] The result justifies the deed

75] The bigger they are, the harder they fall

76] No pain, no cure

77] If you wish to die young, make your physician your heir

78] Dreams are lies

79] The morning hour has gold in its mouth

80] Debt is an evil conscience

81] A man may bear till his back breaks

82] The best of friends must part

83] Lovers are madmen

84] Diseases are the price of ill pleasures

85] A thing of beauty is a joy forever

86] Judge not the tree by its bark

87] Law cannot persuade where it cannot punish

88] Heaven helps those who help themselves

89] Exchange is no robbery

90] Nothing is certain but the unforeseen

91] He is not poor that has little, but he that desires much

92] Other times, other manners

93] Water is a boon in the desert, but the drowning man curses it.

94] Great fortune brings with it great misfortune

95] Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.

96] Confession of our fault is the next thing to innocence

97] You cannot skimp on the fodder and have an energetic horse.

98] Exchange is no robbery

99] Creditors have better memories than debtors

100] Necessity is a powerful weapon