Famous Proverbs

1] He who comes first, grinds first.

2] Friends agree best at a distance

3] A good drink makes the old young

4] If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again

5] Our neighbour’s ground yields better corn than ours

6] If you want peace, prepare for war

7] Knavery may serve for a turn, nut honesty is best in the long run

8] Manners and money make a gentleman

9] He who depends on another, dines ill and sups worse

10] The weeds overgrow the corn.

11] Who errs and mends, to god himself commends

12] He is an ill husband who is not missed

13] He knows on which side his bread is buttered

14] In all the weeding cake, hope is the sweetest plum.

15] Poverty is no disgrace but it is a great inconvenience

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

17] The envious grow thin at others’ prosperity

18] Half a loaf is better than do bread

19] It is an ill dog that deserves not a crust

20] He that comes first to the hill, may sit where he will.

21] Health and wealth create beauty

22] Every man must carry his own cross

23] Do leaves sprout on rootless trees?

24] One hour today is worth two tomorrow

25] A sluggard takes a hundred steps because he would not take one in due time.

26] The value of money is having it.

27] Don’t empty (or throw) the baby out with the bath water

28] Where grooms and householders are all alike great, very disastrous will it be for the houses and all that dwell in them

29] A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.

30] A contented mind is a perpetual feast

31] No man is a hero to his valet

32] Adventures are to be adventurous

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

34] Envy never enriched any man.

35] A joke never gains over an enemy, but often loses a friend

36] Too much hope deceives

37] Comparisons are odious

38] Even fools sometimes speak to the purpose

39] He who touches pitch will be defiled

40] The squeaking wheel gets the grease

41] A thing of beauty is a joy forever

42] Ready money is a ready remedy

43] Fear the Greeks (or Beware of Greeks) bearing gifts

44] The voice is the best music

45] A dwarf on a giant’s shoulders sees the farther of the two

46] If you would be well served, serve yourself

47] Nature does nothing in vain

48] He who comes late must eat what is left

49] A friend is easier lost than found

50] Through obedience learn to command.

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

52] Divine grace was never slow

53] He loves roast meat well that licks the spit.

54] The crow laughs at the pig for being black

55] More have repented speech than silence

56] Empty vessels make the most noise

57] Follow love and it will flee thee; flee love and it will follow thee

58] Nothing so bad as not to be good for something

59] Money is the only monarch

60] Saying is one thing, and doing another

61] If the cap fits, wear it

62] When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then a gentleman?

63] Prove your friend ere you have need

64] Little and often fills the purse

65] Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still

66] Mettle is dangerous in a blind horse

67] Beggars must not be choosers

68] Two heads are better than one

69] He that promises too much means nothing

70] A good word stills great anger

71] Call no man happy till he is dead

72] Experience is a dear school, but fools learn in no other

73] Who greases his way travels easily

74] Soft fire makes sweet malt

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

76] An honest good look covers many faults.

77] He that will not go over the stile, must be thrust through the gate

78] All is vanity.

79] Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half shut afterwards

80] He that follows Nature , is never out of his way

81] Two midwives will twist the baby’s head

82] We live laws, not by examples

83] If you can’t bite, never show your teeth.

84] Let us do evil that good may come

85] Young colts will canter.

86] One swallow does not make a summer

87] Fling dirt enough, and some will stick

88] Black will take no other hue

89] No one is rich enough to do without his neighbours

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

91] God comes with leaden feet, but strikes with iron hands

92] Delays are not denials

93] The sun shines upon all alike.

94] Tune the harp strings to be neither too loose nor too taut

95] Good clothes open all doors

96] To beat a tiger, one must have a brother’s help.

97] A loveless life is a living death

98] Every ass thinks himself worthy to stand with the kings horses.

99] A man’s mother is his other God

100] Have but few friends, though many acquaintances