Famous Proverbs

1] Fortune favours the brave (or bold).

2] Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee.

3] The race is got by running

4] Ill luck is good for something

5] A man with no hands is given a ring.

6] The first step is the only difficulty

7] A good beginning makes a good ending.

8] Fortune is blind

9] Work smart; don’t work hard

10] The healthful man can give counsel to the sick

11] The gods send nuts to those who have no teeth

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

13] Much science, much sorrow

14] If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite

15] Kindness to the good is better investment than kindness to the rich.

16] Fool’s haste is no speed

17] A good servant should never be in the way and never out of the way

18] Even water has its ebb and flow

19] Half an egg is better than empty shell

20] Anger makes a rich man hated, and a poor man scorned.

21] Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.

22] Too many cooks spoil the broth

23] He that is down need fear no fall

24] Forethought is easy, repentance hard

25] A good heart conquers ill fortune

26] The falling drops hollow the stone

27] Soon learnt, soon forgotten

28] He that will steal an egg, will steal an ox

29] Better the foot slip than the tongue

30] Rats desert (or forsake) a sinking ship

31] The longest journey starts with a single step

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

33] Nature hates all sudden changes

34] Praise no man till he is dead.

35] One pair of heels is often worth two pairs of hands

36] He that praises himself, spatters himself

37] Anger and haste hinder good counsel

38] Ignorance is the peace of life

39] Don’t kick against the pricks

40] He who would catch fish must not mind getting wet.

41] Dead men tell no tales

42] The submitting to one wrong brings on another

43] Nothing so bad as not to be good for something

44] Example, is better than precept

45] He that mischief hatches mischief catches.

46] Beggars must not (can’t) be choosers

47] All’s fish that comes to the net

48] An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden

49] Better to be safe than sorry.

50] Weak things united become strong

51] The escaped mouse ever feels the taste of the bait.

52] No man is infallible

53] Why play the harp to a buffalo?

54] He who last, laughs longest.

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

56] Put not the bucket too often in the well

57] The proof of the pudding lies in the eating

58] The rich man thinks of the future, the poor man thinks of today

59] When you know there are tigers on the hills, don’t go there

60] Learn not and know not

61] Big fish eat little fish

62] Never refuse a good offer

63] The sieve says to the needle, “You’ve hole in your head”.(

64] Vast chasms can be filled, but the heart of man never

65] Two midwives will twist the baby’s head

66] Beauty is but skin-deep

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

68] Seldom seen, soon forgotten

69] Will without reason is blind, and against reason, is mad

70] A wise man is never less alone than when he is alone

71] A bad workman quarrels with his tools.

72] Little by little and bit by bit.

73] Words bind men

74] Follow love and it will flee thee; flee love and it will follow thee

75] Half an egg is better than empty shell

76] Silence is a woman’s best garment

77] Work smart; don’t work hard

78] Necessity turns a lion into a fox

79] Truth may walk through the world unarmed

80] Truthfulness becomes the gentleman

81] Truth is mighty and will prevail

82] Precept begins, examples accomplish

83] There is no blindness like ignorance

84] Many drops make a shower

85] Nothing stake, nothing draw.

86] Do not halloo till you are out of the wood

87] Every bean has its black

88] There are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream.

89] With wealth, you are as grand as a dragon; without wealth you are as insignificant as a worm.

90] Because he would not eat it, the food got maggoty

91] A wounded reputation is seldom cured

92] He who envies admits his inferiority

93] Rip not up old sores

94] Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him

95] Revenge is sweet

96] One reason is as good as fifty

97] The hasty leaps over his opportunities

98] Habits are at first cobwebs, at last cables.

99] Calamity is the touchstone of a brave mind

100] Keep not ill men company, lest you increase the number