Famous Proverbs

1] Circumstances alter cases

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

3] Honesty is the best policy

4] Money refused loses its brightness

5] The lone sheep is in danger of the wolf

6] He’s his father’s (or mother’s) son

7] Nothing is so bad but might have been worse

8] Travel with open eyes and you will become a scholar

9] Without diligence, no prize

10] A man without a wife is but half a man

11] Fools rush in where angles fear to tread

12] It is the unexpected that always happens

13] Error cannot be defended but by error

14] If you gently touch a nettle, it’ll sting you for your pains; grasp it like a man of mettle, and it soft as silk remains.

15] It is an ill bargain where no man wins

16] Every beggar is descended from some king, and every king is descended from some beggar.

17] Better bend than break

18] The earthen pot must keep clear of the brass kettle

19] Dry bread at home is better than roast meat abroad

20] A good paymaster never wants workmen

21] The weakest goes to the wall

22] One sword keeps another in the sheath

23] Good advice (or counsel) is beyond price

24] Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half shut afterwards

25] A traveller may lie with authority

26] You may force a man to shut his eyes but you can’t make him sleep

27] Local ginger is never as hot as imported ginger

28] Have two strings to your bow

29] The peony, though large, is useless; the date blossom, though small, yields fruit

30] Rip not up old sores

31] Learn weeping and you shall gain laughing

32] Every dog has his day

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

34] Men do more things through habit than reason

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

36] Cowards die often. He that fears death lives not

37] Never refuse a good offer

38] The owl thinks her own young fairest

39] Affection blinds reason

40] Virtue is its own reward

41] Wine and wenches empty men’s purses

42] A man of courage never wants weapons

43] A woman’s work is never done

44] If one sheep leaps o’er the dyke, all the rest will follow

45] Death does not recognize strength

46] No cross, no crown

47] Give him an inch and he’ll take a yard

48] Jesters do oft prove prophets

49] Art improves Nature

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

51] If Jack’s in love, he’s no judge of Jill’s beauty

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

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

54] God is always on the side of the big battalions

55] The good is often the enemy of the best

56] Make not your sauce, before you have caught the fish.

57] He is not fit to command others, that cannot command himself

58] What’s done cannot be undone

59] A goose drinks as much as gander

60] Finger were made before forks, and hands before knives

61] An arrow shot upright falls on the shooter’s head

62] It is hard to wive and thrive both in a year

63] Come with the wind, got with the water

64] Laugh and grow fat

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

66] A secret fire is discovered by the smoke

67] He who peeps through a hole, may see what will vex him

68] Wake not a sleeping lion

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

70] Conscience does make cowards of us all

71] Anger restrained is wisdom gained

72] Sorrow will pay no debt

73] No man ever becomes thoroughly bad all at once

74] Since god has not bent the top of the palm tree, he has given a long neck to the giraffe

75] A fault once denied is twice committed

76] Kindle not a fire that you cannot extinguish

77] Steer not after every mariner’s direction

78] He that dare not venture must not complain of ill luck

79] The noblest vengeance is to forgive

80] Every man is the architect of his own fortune

81] It the counsel be good, no matter who gave it.

82] Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

83] Fine feathers make fine birds.

84] The lone sheep is in danger of the wolf

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

86] Vast chasms can be filled, but the heart of man never

87] Ready money is ready medicine

88] A miss is as good as a mile

89] A good wife makes a good husband

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

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

92] Fair play’s a jewel

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

94] If every man would sweep before his own door, the city would soon be clean

95] What is told in the ear of a man is often heard a hundred miles away

96] Good hand, good hire

97] Bad excuses are worse than none.

98] Unpaid debts are unforgiven sins

99] An old dog barks not in vain

100] Too much cunning undoes