Famous Proverbs

1] Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves

2] Fine feathers make fine birds.

3] He that is fallen cannot help him that is down

4] Love is a disease, and the loved on is the only medicine

5] A man’s studies pass in to his character

6] Though it rains gold and silver there, it’s a foreign land; though it rains daggers and spears here, it’s our own country

7] A gift much expected is paid, not given

8] Where there are reeds, there is water

9] The company makes the feast

10] New things are fair

11] It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog

12] Have two strings to your bow

13] He who waits for another man’s platter has a cold meal

14] He that ventures not fails not.

15] Cloudy mornings turn to clear afternoons

16] Honesty is the best policy

17] Thieves and rogues have the best luck, if they do but escape hanging

18] The cat shuts its eyes while it steals cream

19] Facts are more eloquent than oratory

20] All doors open to courtesy

21] The darkest place is under the candlestick

22] Debt is an evil conscience

23] What’s done is done

24] A good tongue is a good weapon

25] Fortune favours those who use their judgement

26] They brag most who can do least

27] Give a dog a bad name and hang him

28] East or west, home is best

29] No honest man ever repented his honesty

30] Beauty is potent but money is omnipotent

31] So many men, so many opinions

32] Don’t teach your grandmother how to suck eggs

33] If you agree to carry the calf, they’ll make you carry the cow.

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

35] The bee sucks honey out of the bitterest flowers

36] Content is better than riches

37] Every deed is to be judges by the doer’s intention.

38] What’s done cannot be undone

39] Whether the pitcher strikes the stone, or the stone the pitcher, it is bad for the pitcher

40] Great fortune brings with it great misfortune

41] Silence is also speech

42] A friend in need is a friend indeed

43] Take away fuel, take away flame

44] Pleasure has a sting in its tail

45] Necessity is the mother of invention

46] Cleanliness is next to godliness

47] Hope is grief’s best music

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

49] If things were to be done twice, all would be wise.

50] He that has plenty of goods will have more

51] The resolved mind has no cares

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

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

54] A good word for a bad one is worth much and costs little

55] A man’s discontent is his worst evil

56] He that mischief hatches mischief catches.

57] Adversity is the touchstone of friendship

58] Man does what he can, and God what he will

59] Talk of an angel and you’ll hear the fluttering of his wings

60] Know when to spend and when to spare, and you need not be busy, you’ll never be bare

61] A good name is better than a golden girdle

62] A wise man cares not for what he cannot have

63] Praises fill not the belly

64] It is not the burden but the overburden that kills the beast

65] A great city, a great solitude

66] The disinterested observer may perceive what is missed by those who are directly involved

67] Waste is not grandeur

68] Work expands so as to fill the time available

69] He who carries the burden knows the weight of it.

70] Fair face, foul heart

71] A man may bear till his back breaks

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

73] He that would know what shall be, must consider what has been

74] To advise someone not to gamble is to win money for him

75] Health and money go far

76] It is useless to flog a dead horse

77] Give a fool (or a thief) enough rope and he will hang himself

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

79] Cross the stream where it is shallowest

80] Honey catches more files than vinegar.

81] Extremes are dangerous

82] Our neighbour’s ground yields better corn than ours

83] He who comes late must eat what is left

84] One thief will not rob another

85] The voice is the best music

86] Do leaves sprout on rootless trees?

87] Remove an old tree and it will wither to death

88] The rotten apple injures its neighbours.

89] Words fly, writings remain

90] Poor men’s words have little weight

91] The camel never sees its own hump, but that of its brother is always before its eyes

92] His bark is worse than his bite

93] From the sublime to the ridiculous is only a step

94] He that keeps not crust not crumb, shall ever want some

95] Only a fool will make the doctor his heir

96] A fair face may hide a foul heart.

97] Envy eats nothing but it own heart

98] He that sleeps sound feels not the toothache

99] Every advantage has its disadvantage

100] Though the fox runs, the chicken has wings