Famous Proverbs

1] All men are mortal

2] Greedy eaters dig their graves with their teeth.

3] When the melon is ripe, it will drop by itself

4] Virtue is a jewel of great price.

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

6] Charity covers a Multitude of sins

7] It is easy to do what one’s own self wills

8] God’ s mill grids slow but sure

9] Content is more than a kingdom

10] The tongue stings

11] The fine pullet shows its excellence from the egg.

12] Where there’s muck, there’s money

13] Evil to him who evil thinks.

14] If it were not for hope, the heart would break

15] What’s the good of thatching someone else’s roof?

16] Four eyes see more than two

17] We can live without our friends, but not without our neighbours

18] Better a lean peace than a fat victory

19] The longer you look at it, the less you will like it

20] Good hand, good hire

21] Novelty always appears handsome

22] Let sleeping dogs lie

23] Worry is the interest we pay on trouble before it is due

24] A bow long bent at last waxes weak

25] You cannot sell the cow and sup (or drink) the milk

26] Charity begins at home.

27] One of these days is none of these days

28] It is equally an error to trust all men or no man

29] Better a little loss than a long sorrow

30] If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite

31] Save your breath to cool the porridge

32] If you don’t make mistakes, you don’t make anything

33] Content is more than a kingdom

34] He who does not rise with the sun does not enjoy the day

35] He who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning

36] Let like mate with like

37] Take the will for the deed

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

39] You see a man’s face but not his heart.

40] The absent party is always to blame.

41] The slowest barker is the surest biter

42] It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions but hard to find a cure.

43] You must lose a fly to catch a trout

44] Good riding at two anchors, men have told, for if one breaks the other may hold

45] Cloudy mornings turn to clear afternoons

46] Slow help is no help

47] To err is human

48] Do as you would be done by

49] Noting is impossible to a willing heart

50] When wine sinks, words swim

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

52] Enquire not what boils in another’s pot. ¶ Listeners seldom hear good of themselves

53] Have patience with a friend rather than lost him forever.

54] The best fish swim near the bottom

55] Keep some till further more come

56] It is as natural to die as to be born

57] He that would climb the ladder must begin at the bottom

58] All cats are grey in the dark

59] From word to deed is a great space

60] Kill two birds with one stone

61] Lend never that thing you needed most

62] Cut your coat according to your cloth

63] There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip

64] How who makes no mistakes, makes nothing.

65] Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost

66] He who gives to the unworthy loses doubly

67] Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

68] A successful man is seldom at ease; a life of ease does not breed success

69] An old man’s sayings are seldom untrue

70] Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard

71] Many irons in the fire, some must cool

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

73] Little birds that can sing and won’t sing should be made to sing

74] A man may lose more in an hour than he can get in seven

75] The best things in life are free

76] What can’t be cured must be endured

77] Bees that have honey in their mouths have stings in their tails.

78] A ragged colt may make a good horse.

79] Avoid a questioner, for he is also a tattler

80] Joy and sorrow are next door neighbours.

81] Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them

82] Water far away will not extinguish a fire that is nearby; relatives far from you are not as good as neighbours close to you.

83] Fortune favours those who use their judgement

84] When we sing, everybody hears us; when sigh, nobody hears us

85] If you sing before breakfast, you’ll cry before night

86] Don’t pour out the dirty water before you have cleaned

87] Every man praises his own wares

88] Don’t ask a blind man which is the right way

89] Not good is it to harp on the on the frayed string

90] Go to bed with the lamb, and rise with the lark

91] A wounded reputation is seldom cured

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

93] Example, is better than precept

94] Discretion is the better part of valour

95] Lend, and lose the loan or gain an enemy

96] If two men ride on a horse, one must ride behind

97] He that lends, gives

98] Men are known by the company they keep.

99] Conscience is a thousand witnesses

100] After the extreme of cold comes spring