Famous Proverbs

1] The peony, though large, is useless; the date blossom, though small, yields fruit

2] An army marches on its stomach

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

4] If you want peace, prepare for war

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

6] Little things please little minds

7] He who has seen little marvels much

8] The best things in life are free

9] Desires are nourished by delays

10] Many drops make a shower

11] Everything would fain live

12] It’s hard to get one’s own sword back when it’s in someone else’s scabbard

13] Wise men propose, and fools determine

14] Make not your sauce, before you have caught the fish.

15] Lookers-on see more than players

16] Silence is also speech

17] Hard words break no bones

18] Misery acquaints men with strange bedfellows

19] The soldier who retreated fifty paces laughed at the one who had fallen back a hundred paces

20] A dragon that is stranded in shallow water, becomes the butt of shrimps

21] The proof of the pudding lies in the eating

22] You cannot unscramble eggs

23] The mob tramples on the coward

24] Every one thinks his own cross is heaviest

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

26] Long absent, soon forgotten

27] Either mend or end

28] All things are easy, that are done willingly

29] Remember, you are but a man

30] Step by step the ladder is ascended

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

32] Eat at pleasure, drink by measure

33] Who is more busy than he that has least to do?

34] Better be a fool than a knave

35] Wedlock is padlock

36] The deed comes back upon the doer.

37] He that has no money needs no purse

38] Wisdom is better than strength

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

40] The worst wheel of the cart creaks most

41] Even Homer sometimes nods

42] Death is the grand leveler

43] All men are mortal

44] Even silence may be eloquent

45] Every man has the defects of his own virtues (or qualities)

46] The course of true love never did run smooth

47] A chain is no stronger than its weakest link

48] Never was a cat or dog drowned, that could but see the shore

49] The orange that is too hard squeezed yields a bitter juice

50] He who makes no mistakes makes nothing

51] From a foolish judge, a quick sentence

52] Manners and money make a gentleman

53] One is not smelt where all stink

54] Once you have been bitten by a snake, even a piece of cord will frighten you.

55] He who squeezes in between the onion and the peel, picks up its stink.

56] Nothing is given so freely as advice

57] It foolish sheep that makes the wolf his confessor

58] Young colts will canter.

59] If you cannot bite never show your teeth

60] Sparrows who emulate peacocks are likely to break a thigh

61] Where there is no trust there is no love

62] Spend and be free, but make no waste

63] Send a donkey to Paris, he’ll return no wiser than he went

64] No convenience without its inconvenience

65] Zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse

66] Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

67] Great fortune brings with it great misfortune

68] Give credit where credit is due

69] Everyone puts his fault on the times.

70] He that is fallen cannot help him that is down

71] Though the fox runs, the chicken has wings

72] Do as say, not as I do

73] Wishes can never fill a sack

74] Valour delights in the test

75] Kill not the goose that lays the golden eggs

76] Early sow, early mow

77] Custom takes the taste from the most savoury dishes

78] The healthful man can give counsel to the sick

79] What children hear at home, soon files abroad

80] One pair of heels is often worth two pairs of hands

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

82] Even the tiger will appear if you talk about him

83] Think not on what you lack as much as what you have

84] The game is not worth the candle

85] He has to do what is foul, never comes away clean

86] Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

87] Extremes meet

88] Little birds that can sing and won’t sing should be made to sing

89] Whether the pitcher strikes the stone, or the stone the pitcher, it is bad for the pitcher

90] Drunkards and fools cannot lie.

91] If you agree to carry the calf, they’ll make you carry the cow.

92] The best things come in small packages

93] Lavishness is not generosity

94] Habits are at first cobwebs, at last cables

95] What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals

96] Necessity turns a lion into a fox

97] Children and fools must not play with edged tools

98] Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you

99] Dumb dogs are dangerous

100] A bad excuse is better than none at all