Famous Proverbs

1] Laws were made to be broke

2] The beaten road is the safest

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

4] Hard cases make bad law

5] A learned man has always riches in himself

6] He who says what he likes shall hear what he does not like

7] Don’t pour out the dirty water before you have cleaned

8] Courtesy on one side never lasts long

9] A good Conscience is the best divinity

10] Good clothes open all doors

11] The world is full of fools

12] Valour would fight, but discretion would run away

13] One good turn deserves another

14] Be just before you are generous

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

16] You may know by a handful the whole sack

17] A bow long bent at last waxes weak

18] Lovers are madmen

19] A bully never grows up.

20] Exchange (or Fair exchange) is no robbery

21] In doing we learn.

22] Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him

23] Give a clown your finger, and he will take your hand

24] No man is a hero to his valet

25] A wise man cares not for what he cannot have

26] Soon gotten, soon spent

27] Where there is no trust there is no love

28] Man proposes, God disposes

29] Names are debts

30] One man’s loss is another’s gain

31] Mirth is the sugar of life

32] All must be as God will

33] Words have wings, and cannot be recalled

34] Everybody’s business is nobody’s business

35] We should publish our joys and conceal our griefs

36] Like mother, like daughter

37] The fine pullet shows its excellence from the egg.

38] Pleasant hours fly past

39] Law makers should not be law breakers

40] Better cut the shoe than pinch the foot

41] A living dog is better than a dead lion

42] The envious grow thin at others’ prosperity

43] Intimacy lessens fame

44] Great alms-giving lessens no man’s living

45] Virtue joints man to god

46] Choose neither women nor linen by candlelight.

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

48] What is shown by example, men think they may justly do

49] Sour, sweet, bitter and pungent flavours must all be tasted

50] See how the wind blows

51] Will without reason is blind, and against reason, is mad

52] Beauty opens locked doors

53] He who teaches learns

54] Not lock will hold against the power of gold

55] Fair exchange is no robbery

56] You cannot have your cake and eat it

57] All covet all lose.

58] Clothes do not make the man

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

60] He wants both the flour and the cake that it makes

61] The best go first

62] Plain dealing is a jewel, but they that use it die beggars

63] All things are possible with god

64] He that desires but little has no deed of much

65] You must grin and bear it

66] He who comes late must eat what is left

67] From hearing, comes wisdom; from speaking, repentance

68] He freezes who does not burn

69] Young colts will canter.

70] Every bean has its black

71] When the dog catches mice, it is meddling in the cat’s business.

72] The remedy for injuries is not to remember them

73] Ninety per cent of inspiration is perspiration

74] He that is absent is soon forgotten

75] Never hit a man when he’s down

76] Human blood is all of a colour

77] Work expands so as to fill the time available

78] Better die a beggar than live a beggar

79] Better a good cow than a cow of a good kind

80] At open doors, dogs come in

81] Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves

82] An arrow shot upright falls on the shooter’s head

83] Better no doctor at all than three.

84] He should have a long spoon who sups with the devil.

85] Though it rains gold and silver there, it’s a foreign land; though it rains daggers and spears here, it’s our own country

86] It is easier to pull down than to build

87] The higher you climb, the harder you fall

88] Pleasure has a sting in its tail

89] It is the unexpected that always happens

90] Hoist your sail when the wind is fair

91] Everything tempts the man who fears temptation. If you can’t be good, be careful.

92] Better fill a man’s belly than his eye

93] Sadness and happiness succeed each other.

94] Envy eats nothing but it own heart

95] An Englishman’s home is his castle

96] Cowards die many times before their deaths

97] Give yourself a pinch, and you will know how a pinch must hurt others

98] How ever much you learn, you won’t know how to raise the dead

99] A traveller may lie with authority

100] Every beggar is descended from some king, and every king is descended from some beggar.