Famous Proverbs

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

2] A strong town is not won in an hour

3] The tongue stings

4] One speak of rat droppings will spoil a whole pan of rice

5] A still tongue makes a wise head

6] 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

7] He seems wise with whom all things thrive

8] The eye that sees all things else sees not itself

9] All heiresses are beautiful.

10] What’s in a name?

11] Other times, other manners

12] Keep some till further more come

13] Through hardship to the stars

14] Train the child in the way he should go.

15] Despair gives courage to a coward

16] Desert and reward seldom keep company

17] The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

18] If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must go to the mountain.

19] Lovers are madmen

20] Better children weep than old men

21] Promises may make friends, but it is performances that keep them

22] A spear you can see can easily be avoided; a hidden arrows is difficult to guard against.

23] Books and friends should be few but good

24] Two midwives will twist the baby’s head

25] It will be the same a hundred years hence

26] Man may have a thousand plans, but god’s plan is best

27] Men do more things through habit than reason

28] Every medal has two sides

29] Learn not and know not

30] There’s no great loss without some gain

31] It is more blessed to give than to receive

32] Local ginger is never as hot as imported ginger

33] Better be a fool than a knave

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

35] Never put off till tomorrow what may be done today

36] An Englishman’s home is his castle

37] Half an egg is better than empty shell

38] Poverty obstructs the road to virtue

39] If the father is spotted, the son will be speckled

40] Why keep a dog and bark yourself?

41] What can you expect from a pig (or hog) but a grunt?

42] A house divided against itself cannot stand

43] He that mischief hatches mischief catches.

44] Money is the sinew of affairs

45] He who holds the ladder is as bad as the thief

46] In everything consider the end

47] White there’s life there’s hope

48] When you drink water from the stream, don’t forget that the source of it is the spring

49] Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

50] The deed comes back upon the doer.

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

52] He mediates revenge who least complains.

53] How who makes no mistakes, makes nothing.

54] Credit lost is like a Venice glass broken

55] Kindness lies in one side of the house

56] Better a louse in the pot than no flesh at all

57] Ill luck is good for something

58] Golden lads and girls all must, as chimney-sweepers, come to dust

59] To refuse and to give tardily is all the same

60] Corn him well and he will work better

61] The worth of a thing is what it will bring

62] All roads lead to Rome

63] Vows made in storms are forgotten in calm

64] Take not a musket to kill a butterfly

65] The bread never falls but on its buttered side

66] Jesters do oft prove prophets

67] Virtue is praised by all, but practiced by few

68] Tomorrow is another day

69] What is word but wind?

70] Better an apple given than eaten

71] An ill payer (or paymaster) never wants an excuse

72] If you do not enter a tiger’s den, you cannot get its cubs

73] Kindness is the noblest weapon to conquer with.

74] A white –wasted crow will not long remain white

75] God gives us the milk, but not the pail

76] Mustard is a good sauce, but mirth is better

77] A man’s discontent is his worst evil

78] Promises are like pie-crust, made to be broken

79] Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched

80] Once a use and ever a custom

81] As soon as man is born, he begins to die

82] Much learning makes men mad

83] Water is the king of food

84] It is not the hood that makes the monk.

85] To fright a bird is not the way to catch her

86] Let not the sun do down on your wrath

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

88] Great trees keep down the little ones

89] Little things are pretty

90] Ambition loses many a man

91] He who does no good, does evil enough

92] Only a fool will make the doctor his heir

93] More have repented speech than silence

94] Noting is impossible to a willing heart

95] Love turns pimples

96] The mouse that has but one hole is quickly taken

97] Fields have eyes and woods have ears

98] The poor sit on the front benches in Paradise

99] Give a clown your finger, and he will take your hand

100] Many doctors, death accomplished