Famous Proverbs

1] How seldom in life is the moon directly overhead

2] Confession of our fault is the next thing to innocence

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

4] A kind heart loseth nought at last.

5] The more cost, the more honour

6] How forceful are right words

7] Might knows no right

8] Young saint, old devil.

9] Covetousness breaks the sack

10] An old dog barks not in vain

11] In my own house, I am king

12] Hunger is the teacher of many

13] Dead men tell no tales

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

15] First think, and then speak

16] Union (or Unity) is strength

17] Send a fool to France and he’ll come back a fool

18] Unless the vessel is clean, what you pour in to it turns sour.

19] A cotton dress wants to be alongside a silk one

20] The great would have none great, and the little all little

21] A useful trade is a mine of gold

22] He that dwells next door to a cripple, will learn to halt

23] A good name is better than riches

24] Example is the greatest of all seducers

25] The garment worn determines how one is served

26] Pouring oil on the fire is not the way to quench it

27] It is better to have done something great than to have never been successful

28] One lie makes many

29] Hope keeps man alive

30] Keep not ill men company, lest you increase the number

31] Better bend than break

32] He that tells a secret, is another’s servant.

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

34] The lion had need of the mouse

35] The loftiest towers rise from the ground

36] Excessive happiness produces pain

37] Better an apple given than eaten

38] Rome was not (or cannot be) built in a day

39] You cannot put a quart into a pint pot

40] Soon learnt, soon forgotten

41] Every cock crows on his own dunghill

42] No honest man ever repented his honesty

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

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

45] Don’t put the cart before the horse

46] Kind hearts are soonest wronged

47] Children and fools have merry lives

48] Now is now, and then was then

49] Busiest men find the most time

50] The hole calls the thief

51] Learn to see in another’s misfortune, the ills which you should avoid.

52] What you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts

53] Laughter makes good blood

54] He that praises himself, spatters himself

55] When luck comes, who doesn’t; when luck doesn’t come, who does?

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

57] Make haste slowly

58] A word is enough to the wise

59] Life would be too smooth, if it has no rubs in it.

60] The end crowns the work.

61] The best things in life are free

62] Pleasure has a sting in its tail

63] Praise is always pleasant

64] A liar can go round the world but cannot come back

65] Friendship cannot stand always on one side

66] A trouble shared is a trouble halved.

67] Wise is the man who never exposes himself to unnecessary danger

68] Like will to like

69] Better ask the way than go astray

70] Hope is the poor man’s bread

71] It is courage that wins, and not good weapons

72] Poor men seek meat for their stomach; rich men stomach for their meat.

73] Take heed is a fair thing

74] Do not cut down the tree that gives you shade

75] Everything is of use to a housekeeper

76] He who can wait obtains what he wishes.

77] They say so’ is half a lie

78] Practice makes perfect

79] Throw out a sprat to catch a mackerel

80] Judge not the tree by its bark

81] There are more foolish buyers than foolish sellers

82] The peacock has fair features, but foul feet.

83] Jesters do oft prove prophets

84] Virtue is praised by all, but practiced by few

85] Eat to live and not live to eat.

86] Striving to better, often we mar what’s well.

87] Expectation is better than realisation

88] It is well to live that one may learn

89] The king can do no wrong

90] He who would climb the ladder must begin at the bottom

91] Armies are maintained for years to be used on a single day.

92] He gives twice who gives quickly

93] The hero appears only when the tiger is dead

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

95] We shall lie all alike in our graves

96] Remove an old tree and it will wither to death

97] Beauty is potent but money is omnipotent

98] Actions speak louder than words

99] Goods that are much on show lose their colour

100] A cat has nine lives