Famous Proverbs

1] Time has wings

2] The garment worn determines how one is served

3] Servants will not be diligent, where the master’s negligent

4] What is a workman without his tools?

5] New things are fair

6] One reason is as good as fifty

7] Welcome is the best dish in the kitchen

8] Every oak has been an acorn

9] Fortune is blind

10] Don’t play with edged tools

11] Fine feathers make fine birds.

12] Heaven takes care of children, sailor and drunken men

13] Good is good but better carries it

14] Creditors have better memories than debtors

15] If you always say ‘No’, you’ll never get married

16] It signifies nothing to play well if you lose.

17] Think on the end before you begin

18] Repentance is a bitter physic

19] All glory comes from daring to begin

20] One foot is better than two crutches

21] A wise man is never less alone than when alone

22] When in doubt, do nothing

23] The dog is a lion in his own house

24] More than enough is too much

25] Wine and wenches empty men’s purses

26] A fool may sometimes speak to the purpose

27] A bow long bent at last waxes weak

28] An old man is a bed full of bones

29] Far from eye, far from heart

30] It is more blessed to give than to receive

31] Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves

32] The Friar Preached against stealing and had a goose in his sleeve

33] Excessive happiness produces pain

34] An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains

35] What’s done is done

36] As you sow, so shall you reap

37] It is a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock

38] Work expands so as to fill the time available

39] The longest day must have an end

40] Beware of no man more than himself

41] Moderation in all things

42] Take the will for the deed

43] He that is absent is soon forgotten

44] Easter so longed for is gone in a day

45] Trouble brings experience and experience brings wisdom

46] Better late than never, but better never late

47] He that flings dirt at another dirtieth himself most

48] When a man is happy, he does not hear the clock strike

49] A lion may be beholden to a mouse

50] If you wish to die young, make your physician your heir

51] Children learn to creep ere they can go

52] Circumstances alter cases

53] Don’t play with fire

54] Who lives by hope will die in hunger

55] Three helping one another, bear the burthen of six

56] A fool may sometimes speak to the purpose

57] An ounce of practice is worth a pound of precept

58] If you do not enter a tiger’s den, you cannot get its cubs

59] The gods send nuts to those who have no teeth

60] Too far east is west

61] A man’s discontent is his worst evil

62] He who wills the end, Wills the means

63] Best is cheapest

64] Gold is tried in the fire

65] Common fame is a liar

66] If one sheep leaps over the ditch (or dyke), all the rest will follow

67] He who envies admits his inferiority

68] It is the bridle and spur that makes a good horse

69] Cut your coat according to your cloth

70] It is a good tongue that says no ill, and a better heart that thinks none

71] One good deed makes up for a thousand bad ones.

72] Dirty water does not wash clean.

73] Have two strings to your bow

74] They bow to you when borrowing; you bow to them when collecting

75] The poor sit on the front benches in Paradise

76] God never sends mouths but he sent meat

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

78] A thief passes for a gentle man when stealing has made him rich

79] Charity begins at home.

80] Plain dealing is a jewel

81] He that shows his purse, longs to be rid of it

82] Mirth is the sugar of life

83] Better an apple given than eaten

84] The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts

85] Had I fish’ was never good with garlic

86] You never know what you can do till you try

87] You may lead (or take) a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink

88] If there were no receivers, there would be no thieves

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

90] Ale will make a cat speak

91] It is the beautiful bird which gets caged

92] A man in debt is caught in a net

93] Had I fish’ was never good with garlic

94] The noblest vengeance is to forgive

95] A hungry man is angry man

96] All lay loads on a willing horse

97] We soon believe what we desire

98] Light burden I heavy if far borne

99] All for one, and one for all.

100] The king can make a knight, but not a gentleman