Famous Proverbs

1] A hedge between keeps friendship green

2] Poor folk fare the best

3] An army marches on its stomach

4] Great talkers are never great doers

5] Catch not at the shadow and lose the substance

6] Gluttony kills more than the sword

7] There is no rose without a thorn

8] Work smart; don’t work hard

9] Whatever is made by the hand of man, by the hand of man by overturned

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

11] Wise men learn by other men’s harms (or mistakes), fools, by their own

12] Everyone leaps over the dyke where it is lowest

13] A wounded reputation is seldom cured

14] He who envies admits his inferiority

15] Worry is the interest we pay on trouble before it is due

16] Far fowls have fair feather

17] God gives the grain, but we must make the furrow

18] What’s done cannot be undone

19] Divide and rule

20] The result justifies the deed

21] All’s fair in love and war

22] The eye that sees all things else sees not itself

23] Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

24] Go to bed with the lamb, and rise with the lark

25] Ill news comes unsent for.

26] Good counsel has no price. Nothing is given so freely as advice.

27] To refuse and to give tardily is all the same

28] 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.

29] Long roads test the horse; long dealings test the friend

30] He that sows thistles shall reap prickles.

31] Nature does nothing in vain

32] Wink at small faults

33] Don’t quarrel with your bread and buffer

34] The longest journey starts with a single step

35] He who does not rise early never does a good day’s work

36] Quietness is a great treasure

37] Don’t pour out the dirty water before you have cleaned

38] A good name is better than a golden girdle

39] Make the best of a bad bargain

40] The healthful man can give counsel to the sick

41] A good name is better than riches

42] Venture a small fish to catch a big one

43] Many dishes make many diseases

44] An open door may tempt a saint

45] A little learning is dangerous thing

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

47] He that is down need fear no fall

48] The end crowns the work.

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

50] It is never too late to mend

51] All good things must come to an end

52] Marriage makes or mars a man

53] Where your will is ready, your feet are light

54] All glory comes from daring to begin

55] The dog that is idle barks at his fleas, but he that is hunting feels them not.

56] If you pile up enough sand, you can make a pagoda

57] Don’t have too many irons in the fire

58] One cannot love and be wise

59] Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know

60] Of the ten fingers, some are long and some are short.

61] What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals

62] The best go first

63] The weeds overgrow the corn.

64] Children speak only words they have heard.

65] Money has no smell

66] Long absent, soon forgotten

67] Too much money makes one mad

68] A rolling stone gathers no moss

69] You never miss the water till the well runs dry

70] Man may have a thousand plans, but god’s plan is best

71] Never do evil that good may come of it

72] Pleasure is due only when all duty’s done.

73] A living dog is better than a dead lion

74] When good cheer is lacking, our friends will be packing

75] Example is better than precept

76] Idleness (or An idle brain) is the devil’s workshop

77] Gifts blind the eyes.

78] Fling dirt enough, and some will stick

79] Blue are the far away hills

80] If the thorn falls, the leaf is pierced; if the leaf falls the leaf is pierced

81] Do as I say, not as I do

82] He who holds the ladder is as bad as the thief

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

84] Silence is a woman’s best garment

85] You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours

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

87] Men leap over where the hedge is lowest

88] When you live next to a cemetery, you cannot weep for everyone

89] Better beg than steal.

90] Beauty is eloquent even when silent

91] None but the brave deserves the fair

92] When someone gives up a peach, return him a plum

93] Good fame is better than a good face

94] When wine sinks, words swim

95] It is easy to bear the misfortunes of others

96] Every horse thinks its own pack heaviest

97] Never refuse a good offer

98] Now is now, and then was then

99] Where every man is master, the world goes to wrack

100] Time flees without a delay