Famous Proverbs

1] Wise men propose, and fools determine

2] Every cloud has a silver lining

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

4] An honest good look covers many faults.

5] Files are easier caught with honey than with vinegar

6] The little cannot be great unless he devours many

7] That voyage never has luck where each one has a vote.

8] Misfortune does not always come to injure

9] If you would know the value of a ducat, try to borrow one

10] Easy come, easy go

11] Laugh and grow fat

12] First impressions are half the battle

13] All things require skills but an appetite

14] An ill paymaster never wants excuse

15] You know what you can do till you try.

16] Many hands make light work

17] Even if you wash a crow with rose- water, its feathers won’t become white.

18] The more wicked, the more lucky

19] A burnt child dreads the fire

20] Like father, like son

21] Those who sell dog-meat often display a lamb’s head

22] Nothing ventured, nothing gained

23] Every light has its shadow

24] Fish and guests smell in three days

25] The best horse needs breaking, and the aptest child needs teaching

26] It is too late to husband when all is spent

27] Wisdom is better than strength

28] The time to come is no more ours than the time past

29] He that demands misses not, unless his demands be foolish

30] Like father, like son

31] The worth of a thing is what it will bring

32] The anvil lasts longer than the hammer

33] No feast lasts forever.

34] Knowledge humbles the great man, astonishes the common man and puffeth up the little man

35] It never rains it pours

36] Ill comes often on the back worse

37] A good name is a rich heritage

38] Don’t ride the high horse

39] Exchange (or Fair exchange) is no robbery

40] You cannot put a quart into a pint pot

41] Nature is conquered by obeying her

42] An enemy may chance to give good counsel

43] Work expands so as to fill the time available

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

45] Advise none to marry or to go to war

46] Every dog has his (its) day

47] Practice what you preach

48] Truth has a good face but bad clothes

49] Wise men learn by other men’s harm, fools, by their own

50] Enquire not what boils in another’s pot. ¶ Listeners seldom hear good of themselves

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

52] You may lead (or take) a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink

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

54] A fool always rushes to the fore.

55] The longest way round is the shortest way home

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

57] He that will eat the kernel, must crack the nut

58] Hazard not your wealth on a poor man’s advice

59] Look at the bright side

60] You cannot get ivory from a dog’s mouth

61] The Friar Preached against stealing and had a goose in his sleeve

62] A curse will not strike out an eye unless a fist goes with it

63] If each would sweep before his own door, we should have a clean city

64] He that promises too much means nothing

65] More have repented speech than silence

66] There is no place like home

67] Truth has no need of rhetoric

68] Slow and steady wins the race

69] A man of gladness seldom falls into madness

70] It is hard to sail over the sea in an egg-shell

71] Ale will make a cat speak

72] Dying men speak true

73] All men are mortal

74] Naughty boys sometimes make good men.

75] Whatsoever was the father of a disease, an ill diet was the mother.

76] Hunger makes hard bean sweet

77] Good clothes open all doors

78] He that brings good news, knocks hard

79] Poverty is the mother of crime

80] Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know the man

81] If two men ride on a horse, one must ride behind

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

83] Slow help is no help

84] With constancy of purpose, you can file a steel rod in to the needle you need

85] An honorable man would rather be a chicken’s beak than the rump of an ox.

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

87] A man of knowledge increaseth strength

88] The disinterested observer may perceive what is missed by those who are directly involved

89] First things first

90] Often and little eating makes a man fat

91] What is worth doing is worth doing well

92] A fool may sometimes speak to the purpose

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

94] The morning hour has gold in its mouth

95] The proud will sooner lose than ask the way

96] Ill comes often on the back worse

97] Live and let live

98] Who greases his way travels easily

99] First things first

100] Success has many friends