Famous Proverbs

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

2] God (or Providence) is always on the side of big battalions

3] Lovers are madmen

4] He that comes first to the hill, may sit where he will.

5] Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him

6] Medical plants from one’s own back-yard are no valued.

7] A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

8] Money talks

9] A drowning man will clutch at a straw

10] Vice is often clothed in virtue’s habit

11] The fairest silk is soonest stained

12] A guilty conscience feels continual fear

13] The cobbler should stick to his last

14] Words and feathers the wind carries away

15] Anger restrained is wisdom gained

16] The more cost, the more honour

17] How ever much you learn, you won’t know how to raise the dead

18] A change is as good as rest

19] Poverty does not hurt him who has not been rich before

20] Silence is a woman’s best garment

21] Hope keeps man alive

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

23] Use makes mastery

24] Cross the stream where it is shallowest

25] Dying men speak true

26] The end justifies the means

27] Extreme justice is extreme injustice.

28] There is nothing lost by civility

29] Little things are great to little men

30] No man limps because another is hurt

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

32] Poor men’s words have little weight

33] Ready money is a ready remedy

34] Mirth is the sugar of life

35] Better an apple given than eaten

36] There is no rose without a thorn

37] Eat to live and not live to eat.

38] Leave well alone

39] Long life has long misery

40] Everything tempts the man who fears temptation. If you can’t be good, be careful.

41] All things require skills but an appetite

42] The dancing girl who could not dance, said that the hall was not big enough.

43] Good riding at two anchors, men have told, for if one breaks the other may hold

44] Too much money makes one mad

45] Time lost cannot be recalled

46] All meat pleases not all mouths

47] An Englishman’s home is his castle

48] Empty vessels make the most sound

49] A deaf husband and a blind wife are always a happy couple

50] Penny and penny laid up will be many

51] The longest (or farthest) way round is the nearest (or shortest) way home.

52] Marry in haste, repent at leisure

53] In wine there is truth

54] Truth is stranger than fiction

55] Asking costs little

56] God helps those who help themselves

57] Honey is sweet, but the bee stings

58] Don’t stitch your seam before you’ve tacked it.

59] Forbidden fruit is sweetest

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

61] A little body often harbours a great soul

62] Honesty is the best policy

63] It is a hard-fought field where no man escapes unkilled

64] Little pitchers have big (or long) ears

65] Absence diminished little passions and increases great ones

66] Wedlock is padlock

67] Forgiveness is perfect when the sin is not remembered

68] It is easier to get a favour from fortune than to keep it

69] Beauty is only skin deep

70] Choose your neighbour before your house and your companion before the road.

71] One good turn deserves another

72] He that dwells next door to a cripple, will learn to halt

73] They also serve who only stand and wait

74] A man’s wealth is his enemy

75] Never judge from appearances

76] She’s her father’s (or mother’s) daughter

77] Cheats never prosper

78] An honorable man would rather be a chicken’s beak than the rump of an ox.

79] He who would climb the ladder must begin at the bottom

80] You may lead (or take) a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink

81] Choose thy company before thy drink

82] Waste is not grandeur

83] Hasty work, double work,

84] He that flings dirt at another dirtieth himself most

85] Rats know the ways of rats

86] Least said, soonest mended

87] Prove your friend ere you have need

88] Love conquers all

89] There’s always room at the top

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

91] Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

92] The king can make a knight, but not a gentleman

93] There is nothing lost by civility

94] Footprints on the sands of time are not made by sitting down

95] Had I fish’ was never good with garlic

96] All must be as God will

97] Don’t bite the hand that feeds you

98] If there were no clouds, we should not enjoy the sun

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

100] Easier said than done