Famous Proverbs

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

2] Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost

3] Don’t quarrel with your bread and buffer

4] Quickly come, quickly go

5] An honest good look covers many faults.

6] It is not the burden but the overburden that kills the beast

7] Love sees no fault

8] Corruption of the best becomes the worst

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

10] Precept begins, examples accomplish

11] Better to ask the way than go astray.

12] He that repairs not a part, builds all

13] A forced kindness deserves no thanks

14] We do as we can, since we can’t do as we would

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

16] Good fame is better than a good face

17] Kindness to the good is better investment than kindness to the rich.

18] Error cannot be defended but by error

19] He that lives ill, fear follows him

20] Afflictions are sent to us by God for our good

21] He that has no money needs no purse

22] Valour would fight, but discretion would run away

23] It’s a long lane that has no turning

24] If today will not, tomorrow may

25] Poverty is not a crime

26] Green leaves enhance the charm of the peony flower

27] He that has nothing need fear to lose nothing

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

29] It is the unexpected that always happens

30] Much meat, much malady

31] Servants will not be diligent, where the master’s negligent

32] Diseases are the price of ill pleasures

33] Poor men’s words have little weight

34] If the lad goes to the well against his will, either the can will break or the water will spill

35] A willful man will have his way

36] Grin and bear it

37] It at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again

38] All cats are grey in the dark

39] A friend in need is a friend indeed

40] Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory

41] A good anvil does not fear the hammer

42] Things are seldom what they seem.

43] Poor men seek meat for their stomach; rich men stomach for their meat.

44] Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

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

46] Prove your friend ere you have need

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

48] It is poor dog that is not worth the whistling

49] He that tells his wife news, is but newly wed

50] There is no royal road to learning

51] None so deaf as those that will not hear

52] He that speaks well, flights well

53] An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden

54] When one door shuts, another opens

55] The proud will sooner lose than ask the way

56] He that has a tongue in his head may find his way anywhere

57] Nothing is certain but the unforeseen

58] Too much hope deceives

59] Children speak only words they have heard.

60] A quarrelsome man has no good neighbours

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

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

63] A fool at forty is a fool indeed

64] Spit to the heavens, and spittle falls on your own nose

65] The beaten road is the safest

66] He that hath a wife and children hath given hostages to fortune

67] One cannot love and be wise

68] Don’t wash your dirty linen in public

69] There’s no great loss without some gain

70] A fault once denied is twice committed

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

72] They are rich who have true friends

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

74] One sheep follows another

75] Advice when most needed is least heeded

76] A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword

77] A good drink makes the old young

78] A beggar can never be bankrupt

79] Every Jack must have his Jill

80] To err is human; to forgive, divine

81] Don’t cry for the moon

82] All things for not all persons

83] Courtesy is the inseparable companion of virtue

84] He knows most who speaks least

85] Nothing so bad in which there is not something of good

86] Don’t go near the water until you learn how to swim

87] Men count up the faults of those who keep them waiting

88] Better late than never, but better never late

89] A word before is worth two behind

90] Don’t meet trouble half-way

91] A traveller may lie with authority

92] Deliver your words not by number but by weight

93] Under the tongue, men are crushed to death

94] He who sits in the well to observe the sky does not see very much.

95] It is a foolish sheep that makes the wolf his confessor

96] Joy and sorrow are next door neighbours.

97] Man may have a thousand plans, but god’s plan is best

98] He may find fault that cannot mend

99] A old poacher makes the best gamekeeper

100] Empty vessels make the most sound