Famous Proverbs

1] He that desires but little has no deed of much

2] Hunger finds no fault with the cookery

3] You can’t win them all

4] In your anxiety to avoid losing a drop, you spill the whole lot

5] Make the best of a bad bargain

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

7] Time flees without a delay

8] Give him (or knaves) an inch and he (they) will take a yard (or mile)

9] Money is power

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

11] A man’s discontent is his worst evil

12] Needs must when the devil drives

13] If one sheep leaps o’er the dyke, all the rest will follow

14] It is not every question that deserves an answer

15] The game is not worth the candle

16] You cannot get blood (or water) out of a stone

17] The peacock has fair features, but foul feet.

18] The righteous man sins before an open chest

19] Dogs bite twice those who wear ragged clothes.

20] Wash your dirty linen at home

21] Better wear out shoes than sheers.

22] One lie makes many

23] Wisdom is better than strength

24] True gold is not transformed by fire

25] Better a lean peace than a fat victory

26] Don’t cry stinking fish

27] You cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds

28] Kinsman helps kinsman, and woe to him that has none

29] The word is far him who has patience

30] A man can do no more than he can

31] He that brings good news, knocks hard

32] What we spent, we had; what we gave, we have: what we left, we lost

33] No man is born wise or learned

34] You are never too old to learn

35] He that is down need fear no fall

36] One is what one eats

37] Even if you wash a crow with rose- water, its feathers won’t become white.

38] Nothing is given so freely as advice

39] Kingdoms divided soon fall

40] Early sow, early mow

41] It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good

42] Wrong has no warrant

43] The early man ever borrows from the late man

44] Idleness is the root of all evil

45] Dead dogs bark not

46] Good advice (or counsel) is beyond price

47] All good things must come to an end

48] He that mischief hatches mischief catches.

49] It is hard to wive and thrive both in a year

50] Hope is the poor man’s bread

51] Pardoning the bad is injuring the good

52] Don’t make a mountain out of molehill

53] Great barkers are no biters

54] Lend never that thing you needed most

55] Great fortune brings with it great misfortune

56] We have all been once in our life

57] There is nothing that costs less than civility

58] Other times, other manners

59] The last drop makes the cup run over

60] Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones

61] Naughty boys sometimes make good men.

62] The rotten apple injures its neighbours.

63] Christmas comes but once a year

64] The longer you look at it, the less you will like it

65] When a fool is sent to market, the storekeepers rejoice

66] A liar can go round the world but cannot come back

67] The best is often the enemy of the good

68] Do unto others as they should do unto you

69] Covetousness is the root of all evil

70] An enemy may chance to give good counsel

71] None so blind as those who will not see

72] Half a loaf is better than do bread

73] There is a great difference between words and deeds

74] No hair so small but has his shadow

75] Nothing succeeds like success

76] Have but few friends, though many acquaintances

77] To beat a tiger, one must have a brother’s help.

78] The dog that fetches, will carry.

79] Step by step the ladder is ascended

80] Men are known by the company they keep.

81] Extreme justice is extreme injustice.

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

83] Threatened folk live long

84] It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions but hard to find a cure.

85] He knows most who speaks least

86] Ambition loses many a man

87] Fools grow without watering.

88] Too much cunning undoes

89] Trust not the many-minded populace

90] Dying is as natural as living

91] Spread the table, and contention will cease

92] If you play with fire you get burnt

93] Evil often triumphs but never conquers.

94] From a foolish judge, a quick sentence

95] The bread never falls but on its buttered side

96] A barber learns to shave by shaving fools

97] From hearing, comes wisdom; from speaking, repentance

98] Forethought is easy, repentance hard

99] Love is never without jealousy

100] Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!