Famous Proverbs

1] It’s hard to get one’s own sword back when it’s in someone else’s scabbard

2] In a gambling house, there are no fathers and sons.

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

4] Good luck beats early rising

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

6] Give me fire and I’ll give you light

7] The shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot.

8] Neglect will kill an injury sooner than revenge

9] He who says what he likes shall hear what he does not like

10] He that would catch fish must venture his bait

11] In the end, things will mend

12] Sadness and happiness succeed each other.

13] Tomorrow is another day

14] If you pile up enough sand, you make a pagoda

15] Kill not the goose that lays the golden eggs

16] There are spots even in the sun

17] To err is human

18] In wine there is truth

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

20] He that praises himself, spatters himself

21] A living dog is better than a dead lion

22] He who envies admits his inferiority

23] Ill gotten, ill spent

24] Learning is a treasure which accompanies its owner everywhere.

25] Do leaves sprout on rootless trees?

26] Better go about than fall in to the ditch

27] An account is an account, and a brother a brother.

28] The result justifies the deed

29] If you would make an enemy, lend a man money and ask it of him again

30] He preaches well (or best) that lives well (or best).

31] A good beginning makes a good ending.

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

33] Give and spend, and God will send

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

35] There is honour among thieves

36] A learned man has always riches in himself

37] A mill cannot grind with water that is past

38] Do as say, not as I do

39] Patience is a flower that grows not in everyone’s garden

40] Even the compelling beauty of the Diamond Mountain cannot be appreciated when the stomach is empty

41] Why play music for a deal man or dance for a blind man?

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

43] Call no man happy till he is dead

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

45] The bread never falls but on its buttered side

46] Time lost cannot be recalled

47] A little body often harbours a great soul

48] What everybody says must be true

49] Good ware makes quick market

50] A man turned pig no longer fears filth

51] He that promises too much means nothing

52] There is many a fair thing full false

53] Variety is charming

54] A child can have too much of his mother’s blessings

55] As long as the old horse lives, his habits will not change

56] Don’t hallo (or shout, or whistle) until you are out of the wood

57] Slender cannot make a good man bad; when the water recedes, the stone is still there.

58] A willful man will have his way

59] All good things must come to an end

60] What costs little is little esteemed

61] He that sows virtue reaps fame

62] No pot so ugly as not to find a cover

63] The apples on the other side of the wall are the sweetest

64] Every why has a wherefore

65] Once a use and ever a custom

66] One kindness is the price of another

67] Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.

68] Don’t burn the candle at both ends

69] No flying without wings.

70] Extreme justice is extreme injustice.

71] A fool’s mouth is his destruction

72] He that has good money, gives few alms

73] Least said, soonest mended

74] Unless the vessel is clean, what you pour in to it turns sour.

75] Every shoe fits not every foot

76] Those that make the best use of their time, have none to spare

77] He knows on which side his bread is buttered

78] If you put noting into your purse, you can take nothing out

79] A drowning man will clutch at a straw

80] Anything will fit a naked man.

81] Loyalty is worth more than money

82] Trust is the mother of deceit

83] While the word is in your mouth, it is your own; when ‘tis another’s

84] While the word is in your mouth, it is your own; when ‘tis another’s

85] There is no garden without its weeds

86] The goat must browse where she is tied

87] Moderation in all things

88] Be just before you are generous

89] He who teaches learns

90] Never spend your money before you have it

91] He who would hang his dog gives out first that it is mad

92] Too many cooks spoil the broth

93] What must be must be

94] Say as men say, but think to yourself.

95] Even reckoning makes long friends

96] When the boat reaches the middle of the river, it is too late to repair the leak

97] Of a new prince, new bondage

98] Give and spend, and God will send

99] The coward threatens only when he is safe

100] From hearing, comes wisdom; from speaking, repentance