Famous Proverbs

1] The end makes all equal

2] Much would have more

3] No man is a hero to his valet

4] From small beginnings come great things

5] Just give me one end of the line and I’ll get to the other

6] Ill news comes apace.

7] Experience is a dear school, but fools learn in no other

8] Never refuse a good offer

9] Asking costs little

10] All that glitters is not gold

11] Every one thinks his own sack heaviest

12] He who sits in the well to observe the sky does not see very much.

13] More than enough is too much

14] God (or Providence) is always on the side of big battalions

15] The lion had need of the mouse

16] After dinner sit a while, after supper walk a mile.

17] Fortune favours fools

18] She’s her father’s (or mother’s) daughter

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

20] The lion had need of the mouse

21] Joy and sorrow are next door neighbours.

22] What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is my own

23] An ape’s an ape, a varlet’s a varlet, though they be clad in silk or scarlet

24] A guilty conscience needs no accuser

25] Oaks may fall when reeds stand the storm

26] Nothing venture (or ventured), nothing gain (or gained)

27] An obedient wife commands her husband

28] Do as I say, not as I do

29] A fool may give a wise man counsel

30] Give a loan and buy quarrel

31] Crows are all completely black

32] Might overcome right.

33] There is no fool like an old fool

34] A piece of churchyard fits every body

35] An army marches on its stomach

36] Four eyes see more than two

37] Envy shoots at others and wounds herself

38] A man must plough with such oxen as he has

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

40] Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof

41] Harsh words cut wounds that fester like cankerous sores

42] Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him

43] The garment worn determines how one is served

44] Pardon one offence and you encourage many

45] Too much curiosity lost paradise

46] A useful trade is a mine of gold

47] Lovers’ quarrels are soon mended

48] The fox may grow grey, but never good

49] Hope keeps man alive

50] Crime does not pay

51] There are more men threatened than stricken

52] Two dogs fight for a bone, and a third runs away with it.

53] Give a servant a rod, and he’ll beat his master

54] The buyer needs a hundred eyes, the seller but one

55] Habit is second nature

56] A light purse makes a heavy heart

57] Through indecision, opportunity is often lost.

58] Don’t tell tales out of school

59] When children stand quiet, they have done some ill.

60] Solitude is the best nurse of wisdom

61] Half a loaf is better than do bread

62] Weak things united become strong

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

64] In wine there is truth

65] Children learn to creep ere they can go

66] Care killed the cat

67] In vain they rise early that used to rise late

68] Despair gives courage to a coward

69] Keep your eyes open: a sale is a sale

70] If you run after two hares, you will catch neither

71] God forgives sins, otherwise heaven would be empty.

72] When the dog catches mice, it is meddling in the cat’s business.

73] What you don’t know can’t hurt you

74] Absence diminished little passions and increases great ones

75] Live and Learn

76] Love is sweet torment

77] A thief knows a thief knows a thief as a wolf knows a wolf

78] He who seizes the right moment is the right man

79] The best throw of the dice is to throw them away

80] We live by laws, not by examples

81] Like question, like answer.

82] As you plant wild grass, you won’t get a crop of rice.

83] If the devil finds a man idle, he’ll set him to work

84] Empty vessels make the most sound

85] A fool always rushes to the fore.

86] Do not kick against the pricks

87] Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face

88] He who serves is not free

89] The mill cannot grind with water that is past

90] A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his home

91] There is many a good tune played on an old fiddle

92] The young will sow their wild oats

93] Where there is whispering there is lying

94] Threatened folk live long

95] Praise without profit puts little in the pot

96] In haste is error

97] He that sleeps sound feels not the toothache

98] It’s dogged that does it

99] Know thyself

100] Children and fools cannot lie.