Famous Proverbs

1] Bad luck often brings good luck

2] With patience and time, the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown

3] I may not have tasted their flesh but I’ve seen enough to know how pigs walk

4] It is no use crying over spilt milk

5] Danger makes men devout

6] Little things please little minds

7] Live and let live

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

9] Those near the temple deride the gods

10] Make yourself all honey and the flies will devour you

11] How forceful are right words

12] The longest way round is the shortest way home

13] A contented mind is a perpetual feast

14] Never say die

15] Quarrels do not last long if the wrong is only on one side

16] It chances in an hour, that appears not in seven years

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

18] A pot that belongs to many is ill stirred and worse boiled

19] Poverty is not a shame, but the being ashamed of it is

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

21] Share and share alike

22] Ready money is ready medicine

23] In my own house, I am king

24] The hand that gives, gathers

25] Enough is enough

26] Have but few friends, though many acquaintances

27] Those who live near water know the nature of fish; those who live near hills know the calls of birds

28] Wine uncloaks the words of the heart

29] What’s done is done

30] An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes.

31] He is rich that has few wants

32] Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist

33] Of thy sorrow be not too sad, of thy joy be not too glad

34] You cannot skimp on the fodder and have an energetic horse.

35] Destroy the lion while he is yet but a whelp

36] He laughs ill that laughs himself to death

37] Scatter with one hand, gather with two

38] Love knows no limit

39] When it pleases not God, the saint can do little

40] Precept begins, examples accomplish

41] He that has a full purse never wanted a friend

42] If you would make an enemy, lend a man money and ask it of him again

43] Drops that gather one by one finally become a sea

44] All lay loads on a willing horse

45] Great gain makes easy work

46] Wrong has no warrant

47] No pain, no cure

48] The bee sucks honey out of the bitterest flowers

49] An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth

50] Out of debt, out of danger

51] Dogs bite twice those who wear ragged clothes.

52] Things past cannot be recalled

53] Even though one’s aunt sells the cakes, one will not buy unless they are cheap.

54] Better some of a pudding than none of a pie.

55] The best is often the enemy of the good

56] Once a use and ever a custom

57] The mob has many heads but no brains

58] Fools live poor to die rich

59] Does sound come from an unstruck drum?

60] It is more blessed to give than to receive

61] One father is more than a hundred school masters

62] Needs must when the evil drives

63] At the end of the game, you’ll see who’s the winner

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

65] One is what one eats

66] One speak of rat droppings will spoil a whole pan of rice

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

68] He that will thrive must rise at five

69] When the boat reaches the middle of the river, it is too late to repair the leak

70] Experience is not always the kindest of teachers, but it is surely the best

71] Zeal without prudence is frenzy

72] Desperate diseases need desperate cures

73] Better some of a pudding than none of a pie.

74] All are not thieves that dogs bark at

75] Calamity is man’s true touchstone

76] Dead dogs bark not

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

78] Words are but wind, but seeing’s believing

79] The dog is a lion in his own house

80] Out of debt, out of danger

81] He who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning

82] It is best to be on the safe side

83] The folly of one man is the fortune of another

84] Lend only that which you can afford to lose

85] A single filament of silk does not make a thread; a single tree does not make a forest

86] There is nothing like being on the safe side

87] He who lives with cats will get a taste for mice

88] A man may say too much, even up on the best subjects

89] He loses his thanks who promises and delays

90] It is easy to bear the misfortunes of others

91] Company in misery makes it light

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

93] Every commodity has its discommodity

94] Truthfulness becomes the gentleman

95] In the end, things will mend

96] True gold is not transformed by fire

97] God never sends mouths but he sent meat

98] Leave well alone

99] It is easier to get a favour from fortune than to keep it

100] Mount Fuji itself is not So beautiful to one who is cold and hungry