Famous Proverbs

1] New things are fair

2] If you pile up enough sand, you can make a pagoda

3] In indecision itself, grief is present.

4] Beauty draws more than oxen

5] Honesty is the best policy

6] To the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. To a thirsty man any drink is sweet.

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

8] Evil to him who evil thinks.

9] A word spoken is past recalling

10] The company makes the feast

11] A fool always rushes to the fore.

12] If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite

13] God makes the back for the burden

14] Young saint, old devil.

15] When the cat is away, the mice will play

16] The best things are hard to come by.

17] A burnt child dreads the fire

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

19] If you wish good advice, consult an old man

20] The kind-hearted person has a heavy load.

21] A tree often transplanted, bears not much fruit

22] There are more ways to kill a dog than hanging it.

23] Of one ill come many

24] Every law has a loophole

25] What we spent, we had; what we gave, we have: what we left, we lost

26] All things for not all persons

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

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

29] Two midwives will twist the baby’s head

30] Poverty parts friendship

31] Much meat, much malady

32] Courtesy on one side never lasts long

33] There is nothing permanent except change

34] Small is beautiful

35] Oaks may fall when reeds stand the storm

36] A man’s best fortune, or his worst, is a wife

37] Master easy, servant slack

38] Praise is always pleasant

39] At the end of the game, you’ll see who’s the winner

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

41] Knowledge is the mother of all virtue; all vice proceeds from ignorance

42] Threatened folk live long

43] High places have their precipices

44] Many dishes make many diseases

45] If you want peace, prepare for war

46] What cannot gold do?

47] The best fish swim near the bottom

48] Death devours lambs as well as sheep

49] They that value not praise, will never do anything worthy of praise

50] A lion may be beholden to a mouse

51] Slow help is no help

52] You cannot skimp on the fodder and have an energetic horse.

53] You can’t tell a book by its cover

54] Tomorrow never comes

55] Everything in moderation.

56] It is ill striving (or swimming) against the stream (or tide)

57] It is easier to raise the devil than to lay him

58] Files are easier caught with honey than with vinegar

59] Even a clever wife cannot prepare a meal when there is no food

60] The shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot.

61] God is a sure paymaster

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

63] He knows which side his bread is buttered

64] Faint heart never won fair lady

65] He travels the fastest who travels alone

66] He that may not do as he would, must do as he may

67] Lend your money and lose a friend

68] You cannot get blood (or water) out of a stone

69] He is an ill husband who is not missed

70] Set a wolf to keep the sheep

71] Much would have more

72] Time stays not for the fool’s leisure

73] Valour delights in the test

74] Jesters do oft prove prophets

75] He that has no shame has no conscience

76] A rich man’s joke is always funny

77] Neither bribe, nor lose thy right

78] Youth will have its course.

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

80] God helps those who help themselves

81] What is the good of a sundial in the shade?

82] A discontented man knows not where to sit easy

83] A bad workman always blames his tools

84] It is easier to praise poverty than to bear it.

85] Better do a kindness near home than go to a temple far away to burn incense.

86] Might knows no right

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

88] If the fingers of one hand quarrel, they cannot pick up food

89] Pleasant hours fly past

90] Fall not into the fire when you try to avoid smoke

91] A fool may sometimes speak to the purpose

92] There are spots even in the sun

93] Beggars must not be choosers

94] A nod is as good as wink to a blind horse

95] Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth

96] Much babbling is not without offence

97] The borrower is servant to the lender

98] You can be head a man but you can’t shut his mouth

99] Our own opinion is never wrong

100] Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage