Famous Proverbs

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

2] When two tigers fight, one is sure to be hurt

3] Success has many friends

4] It foolish sheep that makes the wolf his confessor

5] No tie can oblige the perfidious

6] Change brings life

7] It is late to cover the well when the child is drowned.

8] Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard

9] A good heart conquers ill fortune

10] Little things are great to little men

11] If every man would sweep before his own door, the city would soon be clean

12] All griefs with bread are less

13] Virtue and happiness are mother and daughter

14] Little and often fills the purse

15] Take things as you find them

16] You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs

17] Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched

18] Lovers’ quarrels are soon mended

19] A word is enough to the wise

20] A traveller may lie with authority

21] God sends cold after Clothes

22] One barber shaves another gratis

23] Never grieve for what you cannot help

24] Eat a clove of garlic and you smell of garlic; eat two cloves and you smell the same.

25] Better wear out shoes than sheers.

26] A forced kindness deserves no thanks

27] A true friend is forever a friend

28] He that dare not venture must not complain of ill luck

29] Better cut the shoe than pinch the foot

30] He who has a mind to beat his dog will easily find a stick.

31] Better are small fish than an empty dish

32] The sun is never the worse for shining on a dunghill

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

34] Intimacy lessens fame

35] It costs more to do ill than to do well

36] Men count up the faults of those who keep them waiting

37] Just give me one end of the line and I’ll get to the other

38] An ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest

39] A burthen of one’s own choice is not felt

40] If fortune turns against you, even jelly breaks your tooth

41] Habit is second nature

42] He that is born a fool is never cured

43] A good husband makes a good wife

44] He that can stay. Obtains

45] The highest tree has the greatest fall

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

47] Death devours lambs as well as sheep

48] The first step is the hardest

49] All things are easy, that are done willingly

50] One can’t go to bed when a visit or stays late

51] He that will not have peace, God gives him war

52] Great fortune brings with it great misfortune

53] As you make your bed, you must lie on it

54] All heiresses are beautiful.

55] Work expands so as to fill the time available

56] He learned timely to beg that could not say ‘Nay’

57] Who chatters to you, will chatter of you.

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

59] We can live without our friends, but not without our neighbours

60] Put too much lemon-grass into the curry and you’ll spoil the flavour

61] He may find fault that cannot mend

62] What you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts

63] What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

64] Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know the man

65] Little by little and bit by bit.

66] Since god has not bent the top of the palm tree, he has given a long neck to the giraffe

67] For a web begun, God sends the thread

68] It is best to be on the safe side

69] Without luck, it is better not to be born

70] An angry man is not fit to pray

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

72] Diligence is the mother of good luck

73] Never try to prove what nobody doubts

74] He who seizes the right moment is the right man

75] God is always on the side of the big battalions

76] Words bind men

77] Slender cannot make a good man bad; when the water recedes, the stone is still there.

78] By falling we learn to go safely

79] A fool believes everything

80] Gluttony kills more than the sword

81] A still tongue makes a wise head

82] He that will thrive must rise at five

83] Pleasing ware is half sold

84] Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings

85] The best go first

86] The eye is bigger than the belly

87] Don’t cry stinking fish

88] The mob has many heads but no brains

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

90] Evil to him who evil thinks.

91] A rich miser is poorer than a poor man

92] Patience is a virtue

93] Use the means, and God will give the blessings

94] The falling drops hollow the stone

95] Dress up a stick and it does not appear to be a stick

96] No bees, no honey’, that sweetness will come in to the mouth

97] He that comes of a hen, must scrape

98] Pat any man and dust will fly

99] Don’t cast your pearls before swine

100] Common fame is seldom to blame