Famous Proverbs

1] It is hard to sail over the sea in an egg-shell

2] Burn not your house to fright the mouse away

3] Be careful to whom you give

4] What is not even scabies, he makes out to be an ulcer

5] Weeds need no sowing

6] Too far east is west

7] If today will not, tomorrow may

8] Slow help is no help

9] He that will eat the kernel, must crack the nut

10] The eye of the master will do more work than both his hands

11] Sickness shows us what we are

12] All covet all lose.

13] Never grieve for what you cannot help

14] Take the will for the deed

15] Misery loves company.

16] No garden without its weeds.

17] Great alms-giving lessens no man’s living

18] Nothing comes from nothing

19] Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t

20] Failure teaches success

21] Long tarrying takes all the thanks away

22] Truth conquers all things

23] Tie a chicken with an elephant rope, and it will slip off; tie an elephant with a chicken-tether, and it will break away.

24] Everything must have a beginning

25] The end makes all equal

26] Love rules without a sword, and binds without a cord

27] He is a fool that kisses the maid when he may kiss the mistress

28] Hasty climbers have sudden falls

29] Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him

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

31] He that forecasts all perils will never sail the sea

32] A little is better than none

33] Extremes meet

34] Ambition loses many a man

35] Business is business

36] The devil is not as black as he is painted

37] The mills of God grind slowly but they grind exceedingly small

38] A thief knows a thief knows a thief as a wolf knows a wolf

39] Once bitten, twice shy.

40] An old horse knows the route

41] Don’t cross the bridge before you get to it

42] An ill tongue may do much

43] The wisest of the wise may err.

44] Honey catches more files than vinegar.

45] A growing youth has a wolf in his belly

46] Never buy a pig in a poke

47] We live by laws, not by examples

48] Afflictions are sent to us by God for our good

49] Corruption of the best becomes the worst

50] He that would have eggs must endure the cackling of hens

51] Learning is like sailing against the tide - if you don’t move forward, you go backward

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

53] A thousand cranes in the air are not worth one sparrow in the fist.

54] Time stays not for the fool’s leisure

55] He knows most who speaks least

56] Weapons breed peace

57] A clear conscience fears not false accusations

58] Forewarned is forearmed

59] Choose neither women nor linen by candlelight.

60] A fool’s bolt may sometimes hit the mark

61] Truth is stranger than fiction

62] He that knows little often repeats it

63] Patient waiters are no losers

64] It’s a silly fish that is caught twice with the same bait.

65] The worst wheel of the cart creaks most

66] It is a sorry flock where the ewe bears the bell

67] Hazard not your wealth on a poor man’s advice

68] A good anvil does not fear the hammer

69] Think on the end before you begin

70] It is lawful to learn even from an enemy

71] All glory comes from daring to begin

72] It is easier to capture a tiger in the hills than to ask for favours from a man

73] If you want a thing well done, do it yourself

74] Danger makes men devout

75] A goose quill is more dangerous than a lion’s paw

76] Leave well alone

77] Ambition loses many a man

78] Misfortune makes foes of friends

79] Do not kick against the pricks

80] He who gives to the unworthy loses doubly

81] The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts

82] The slowest barker is the surest biter

83] As well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamp

84] Either mend or end

85] Muck and money go together

86] Pleasure has a sting in its tail

87] The bird is known by his note, the man by his words

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

89] It is too late to husband when all is spent

90] A good heart cannot lie.

91] Old foxes want no tutors

92] Even the lion must defend itself against flies

93] Poor folk fare the best

94] To err is human; to forgive, divine

95] The poorer one is, the more devils one meets

96] First creep, then walk

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

98] Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage

99] Never too late to learn

100] The worse luck now, the better another time