Famous Proverbs

1] Fair exchange is no robbery

2] Don’t kick against the pricks

3] He that would the daughter win, must with the mother first begin

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

5] Honest men marry soon, wise men not at all

6] A cat may look at a king

7] Even a clever wife cannot prepare a meal when there is no food

8] The falling drops hollow the stone

9] The end makes all equal

10] Good fences make good neighbours

11] Where there are reeds, there is water

12] Facts are more eloquent than oratory

13] Goodness is better than beauty

14] Brute strength without reason falls of its own weight

15] Two dogs fight for a bone, and a third runs away with it.

16] Better eye sore than al blind

17] Friendship should not be all on one side

18] He that speaks well, flights well

19] He that has a fellow-ruler, has an over-ruler. ¶ There is no good accord, where every man would be a lord

20] Eat an apple going to bed, make the doctor beg his bread.

21] One is not smelt where all stink

22] There is no accounting for tastes

23] One hour today is worth two tomorrow

24] Marriages are made in heaven

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

26] Divine grace was never slow

27] From a foolish judge, a quick sentence

28] Like will to like

29] Good company on the road is the shortest cut

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

31] Possibilities are infinite

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

33] Long looked for, comes at last

34] Do it now

35] Big fish eat little fish

36] The buyer needs a hundred eyes, the seller but one

37] Trusting often makes fidelity

38] Learning is the eye of the mind

39] Better a bare foot than none

40] Health and money go far

41] An ass must be tied where the master will have him

42] He who cannot bear misfortune is truly unfortunate.

43] Never try to prove what nobody doubts

44] A word before is worth two behind

45] We are all Adam’s children

46] Every bean has its black

47] Frugality is the mother of virtue

48] When the weather is cold, there is not such thing as dirty clothing

49] A straight stick is crooked in water

50] Bread is the staff of life.

51] Ready money is a ready remedy

52] Goods that are much on show lose their colour

53] Half the world knows not how the other half lives

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

55] If the doctor cures, the sun sees it; but if he kills, the earth hides it.

56] Dying is as natural as living

57] Too long burden makes weary bones

58] A word is enough to the wise

59] The first blow is half the battle

60] The best things come in small packages

61] It’s a long lane that has no turning

62] A cheerful wife is the joy of life

63] There would be no great ones if there were no little ones

64] The grapes are sour’, as the fox said when he could not reach them

65] He that will not endure to itch must endure to smart

66] The early bird catches the worm

67] He’s his father’s (or mother’s) son

68] Good goods are not cheap; cheap goods are not good

69] When wine sinks, words swim

70] When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then a gentleman?

71] Covetousness is always filling a bottomless vessel

72] He who aims at the moon may hit the top of a tree; he who aims at the top of a tree is unlikely to get off the ground

73] Thatch your roof before the rain begins

74] If you pile up enough sand, you can make a pagoda

75] The devil tempts all, but the idle man tempts the devil

76] Some have been thought brave because they are afraid to run away

77] Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay.

78] If youth knew what age would crave. It would both get and save

79] Gluttony kills more than the sword

80] A bad excuse is better than none at all

81] It is the first step that is troublesome

82] A short cut is often a wrong cut

83] A penny weight of love is worth a pound of law

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

85] A good face is a letter of recommendation

86] He that seeks trouble never misses

87] Shame in a kindred cannot be avoided

88] Children and fools have merry lives

89] Out of sight, out of mind

90] Let like mate with like

91] Rats desert (or forsake) a sinking ship

92] Better a good cow than a cow of a good kind

93] An army marches on its stomach

94] The joy of the heart makes the face fair.

95] He who considers too much will perform little.

96] Tempt not a desperate man

97] A ragged coat may cover an honest man.

98] Circumstances alter cases

99] He that comes of a hen, must scrape

100] The more laws, the more offenders