Famous Proverbs

1] An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

2] A good friend is my nearest relation

3] Blood cannot be washed out with blood

4] Better a lean peace than a fat victory

5] Conscience is a thousand witnesses

6] Self do, self have

7] God’ s mill grids slow but sure

8] Praise is always pleasant

9] Man cannot live by bread alone

10] Shame arises more from fear of men than of God

11] Valour would fight, but discretion would run away

12] Long life has long misery

13] Accidents will happen in the best regulated families

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

15] He travels the fastest who travels alone

16] When a fool is sent to market, the storekeepers rejoice

17] Hunger makes hard bean sweet

18] We soon believe what we desire

19] Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay.

20] Death keeps no calendar

21] Nothing comes from nothing

22] The proof of the pudding lies in the eating

23] The highest branch is not the safest roost

24] Affection blinds reason

25] Too far east is west

26] No honest man ever repented his honesty

27] Every groom is a king at home

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

29] One volunteer is worth two pressed men

30] Many irons in the fire, some must cool

31] When two tigers fight, one is sure to be hurt

32] Company in misery makes it light

33] Among the blind, the one-eyed man is king

34] No like is the same.

35] Words fly, writings remain

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

37] He who cannot bear misfortune is truly unfortunate.

38] When things are at the worst, they begin to mend

39] Love is sweet torment

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

41] Nothing succeeds like success

42] Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday – but never jam today

43] He that praises himself, spatters himself

44] What can’t be cured must be endured

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

46] Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.

47] Easier said than done

48] The courteous one learns his courtesy from the discourteous.

49] Great alms-giving lessens no man’s living

50] Man cannot live by bread alone

51] A good drink makes the old young

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

53] Fortune favours fools

54] A cat may look at a king

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

56] It is too late to call back yesterday

57] The strong man and the waterfall channel their own path

58] Where there is no might, right loses itself

59] Hope is the last thing to abandon the unhappy

60] The longest (or farthest) way round is the nearest (or shortest) way home.

61] The early man ever borrows from the late man

62] Birds once snared fear all bushes

63] God comes at last when think he is farthest off

64] Kill two birds with one stone

65] Conscience does make cowards of us all

66] First things first

67] A good husband makes a good wife

68] Fear of death is worse than death itself

69] See which way the cat jumps

70] To forget a wrong is the best revenge

71] Ill weeds grow apace (or fast)

72] There is no accounting for tastes

73] He that has a fellow-ruler, has an over-ruler. ¶ There is no good accord, where every man would be a lord

74] They brag most who can do least

75] He is a fool who makes his physician his heir

76] He that has no shame has no conscience

77] With patience and time, the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown

78] Necessity is the mother of invention

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

80] Don’t hide your light under a bushel

81] Good goods are not cheap; cheap goods are not good

82] Will is the cause of woe

83] Our worst misfortunes are those which never befall us

84] Master easy, servant slack

85] Bear with evil and expect good

86] Wives must be had, be they good or bad

87] A burdened conscience will never need a hangman

88] Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

89] He that keeps not crust not crumb, shall ever want some

90] Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise

91] A good servant must have good wages

92] A barber learns to shave by shaving fools

93] Giving much to the poor, doth enrich a man’s store.

94] A stitch in time saves nine

95] Habits are at first cobwebs, at last cables.

96] The Pen is mightier than the sword

97] A forced kindness deserves no thanks

98] Discretion of speech is more than eloquence.

99] Fine feathers make fine birds.

100] Don’t make a mountain out of molehill