Famous Proverbs

1] When you know there are tigers on the hills, don’t go there

2] What is new cannot be true

3] Two dogs fight for a bone, and a third runs away with it.

4] He that hopes not for good, fears not evil.

5] Success makes a fool seem wise.

6] The world is full of fools

7] Marriage halves our griefs, doubles our joys and quadruples our expenses

8] It is the first step that is troublesome

9] Youth will have its course.

10] A clear conscience fears not false accusations

11] Words and feathers the wind carries away

12] Rats desert (or forsake) a sinking ship

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

14] A little is better than none

15] Do as say, not as I do

16] Give the devil his due

17] Every lot is to be overcome by endurance

18] The devil tempts all, but the idle man tempts the devil

19] Whom god loves, his house is sweet to him

20] Example is better than precept

21] Rats know the ways of rats

22] He that keeps not crust not crumb, shall ever want some

23] Pouring oil on the fire is not the way to quench it

24] He that compiles against his will, is of his own opinion still

25] Repentance is a bitter physic

26] Death devours lambs as well as sheep

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

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

29] Jack is as good as his master

30] They are rich who have true friends

31] There is more than one way to skin a cat.

32] Call a spade a spade

33] It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog

34] The bigger they are, the harder they fall

35] It is ill jesting with edged tools

36] Every cloud has a silver lining

37] God’s lambs will play.

38] An ill tongue may do much

39] Handsome is as handsome does

40] You cannot sell the cow and sup (or drink) the milk

41] Only with a new ruler do you realize the value of the old

42] The heart soon forgets what the eye sees not

43] He that has good money, gives few alms

44] Discontent is the first step in progress

45] When all men say you are an ass, it is time to bray

46] All meat No dish pleases all palates alike pleases not all mouths

47] Jackdaw always perches by jackdaw.

48] Claw me, and I’ll claw thee

49] He that would know what shall be, must consider what has been

50] You cannot have it both ways

51] Bad excuses are worse than none.

52] Comparisons make enemies of our friends.

53] Great trees keep down the little ones

54] The tongue is more to be feared than the sword

55] Children should be seen and not heard

56] Love rules without a sword, and binds without a cord

57] The best of men are but men at best.

58] It is no use crying over spilt milk

59] Pride goes before a fall

60] It is easy to bear the misfortunes of others

61] Every man has his faults

62] Handsome is as handsome does

63] He who serves is not free

64] By falling we learn to go safely

65] The bread never falls but on its buttered side

66] If wishes were horses, beggars would ride (or might ride)

67] He that has no rest at home is in the world’s hell

68] The worse the evil, the calmer we face it.

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

70] Of evil manners, spring good laws

71] Common fame is seldom to blame

72] Curiosity is ill manners in another’s house

73] No naked man is sought after to be rifled

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

75] He that flings dirt at another dirtieth himself most

76] The proud will sooner lose than ask the way

77] A door must be either shut or open

78] Every dog has his day

79] Beauty fades like a flower.

80] You must grin and bear it

81] Repeat a piece of good advice three times and even a dog will be bored.

82] Tempt not a desperate man

83] Jack would be a gentleman if he had money

84] Better sit still than rise and fall

85] Weeds need no sowing

86] A swine over-fat, is the cause of his own bane

87] He has not lost all who has one cast left

88] It is more pain to do nothing than something

89] Gold may be bought too dear

90] When it rains porridge, the beggar has no spoon.

91] Fools rejoice at promises

92] Three helping one another, bear the burthen of six

93] A quarrelsome man has no good neighbours

94] Unpaid debts are unforgiven sins

95] Asking costs little

96] A man’s mother is his other God

97] Will is the cause of woe

98] Beauty is potent but money is omnipotent

99] Local ginger is never as hot as imported ginger

100] The anvil lasts longer than the hammer