Famous Proverbs

1] The best things come in small packages

2] Know when to spend and when to spare, and you need not be busy, you’ll never be bare

3] It is better to conceal one’s knowledge than to reveal one’s ignorance

4] Wash your dirty linen at home

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

6] Every groom is a king at home

7] He that boasts of his own knowledge proclaims his ignorance

8] Great hopes make great men

9] Idleness is the root of all evil

10] He that touches pitch shall be defiled

11] An ill payer (or paymaster) never wants an excuse

12] The tongue ever turns to the aching tooth

13] They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts

14] One today is worth two tomorrows

15] A quarrelsome man has no good neighbours

16] One beats the bush, and another catches the birds

17] A bow long bent at last waxes weak

18] It is best to be on the safe side

19] In the end, things will mend

20] Old foxes want no tutors

21] He that never ate flesh, thinks a pudding is a dainty

22] One must be a servant before one can be a master

23] He seems wise with whom all things thrive

24] Not good is it to harp on the frayed string

25] It is a poor (or sad) heart that never rejoices

26] Virtue joints man to god

27] A fox should not be of the jury at a goose’s trial

28] Nothing crave, nothing have

29] On an open plain, the rhododendron is a tall tree

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

31] The dog is a lion in his own house

32] No man so good but another may be as good as he

33] You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs

34] Care is no cure

35] Calamity is the touchstone of a brave mind

36] Little things are great to little men

37] Better die a beggar than live a beggar

38] A forced kindness deserves no thanks

39] Even fools sometimes speak to the purpose

40] A good name keeps its luster in the dark

41] Drive thy business or it will drive thee.

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

43] A man can die but once

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

45] History repeats itself

46] Beggars must not be choosers

47] Findings are keepings

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

49] Example, is better than precept

50] It is a silly fish that is caught twice with the same bait.

51] Avoid a questioner, for he is also a tattler

52] A goose drinks as much as gander

53] He who does not kill hogs, ill not get black puddings

54] Weak things united become strong

55] Children speak only words they have heard.

56] Patient waiters are no losers

57] Exceptional bravery is often hidden under a cloak of timidity

58] Even silence may be eloquent

59] Gold may be bought too dear

60] A liar is sooner caught than a cripple

61] Children and fools must not play with edged tools

62] A man of knowledge increaseth strength

63] Many drops make a shower

64] A guilty conscience feels continual fear

65] If you can’t ride two horses at once, you shouldn’t be in the circus

66] Shrouds have no pockets

67] There grows no herb t heal a coward heart

68] Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.

69] War, hunting and love are as full of trouble as pleasure

70] Say as men say, but think to yourself.

71] He that lives ill, fear follows him

72] Youth will have its course.

73] Fools rejoice at promises

74] Look after your money and don’t make your neighbour a thief

75] Soft fire makes sweet malt

76] Money gives a bold front: it doesn’t talk – it screams

77] God gave us the seed of every plant, but we must sow it.

78] Never buy a pig in a poke

79] God’s lambs will play.

80] It is ill striving against the stream

81] One is not smelt where all stink

82] The delay is good which makes the way the safer

83] Better a little loss than a long sorrow

84] Will is no skill

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

86] Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.

87] Good broth may be made in an old pot

88] Nature abhors a vacuum

89] Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny

90] Absence diminished little passions and increases great ones

91] God heals, and the physician takes the fee

92] A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword

93] He who gives to the unworthy loses doubly

94] Bold resolution is the favourite of providence

95] There’s no place like home

96] Big words seldom go with good deeds

97] A word is enough to the wise

98] Bad news travels fast

99] A constant guest is never welcome

100] Everything comes to him who waits