Famous Proverbs

1] At a good bargain thinks twice

2] It is a sorry flock where the ewe bears the bell

3] Don’t tell tales out of school

4] Wise men propose, and fools determine

5] Even fools sometimes speak to the purpose

6] Death devours lambs as well as sheep

7] Don’t play with fire

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

9] Marriages are made in heaven

10] A good heart cannot lie.

11] A new broom sweeps clean, but the old brush knows all the corners

12] She’s her father’s (or mother’s) daughter

13] The effect speaks, the tongue need not

14] Everybody’s business is nobody’s business

15] You cannot get blood (or water) out of a stone

16] Nothing is so certain as death

17] Great talkers are never great doers

18] Better late than never, but better never late

19] When two men look after a horse, it will surely be thin; when two families keep a boat, it will surely leak

20] All our pomp the earth covers

21] Precept begins, examples accomplish

22] He knows on which side his bread is buttered

23] He that cannot pay in purse must pay in person

24] Little by little and bit by bit.

25] Time stays not for the fool’s leisure

26] He who would catch fish must not mind getting wet.

27] The Pen is mightier than the sword

28] He who owes is in all the wrong

29] The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

30] How forceful are right words

31] Danger makes men devout

32] He that wants health wants all

33] The money you refuse will never do you good

34] The worse luck now, the better another time

35] Good luck beats early rising

36] Content is better than riches

37] One speak of rat droppings will spoil a whole pan of rice

38] None so blind as those who will not see

39] The highest branch is not the safest roost

40] Give and spend, and God will send

41] Good goods are not cheap; cheap goods are not good

42] A mill cannot grind with water that is past

43] Lose a leg rather than a life

44] Every why has a wherefore

45] He who considers too much will perform little.

46] True gold is not transformed by fire

47] A true man and a thief think not the same

48] Like will to like

49] Even silence may be eloquent

50] Praise without profit puts little in the pot

51] Take time by the forelock

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

53] It takes a wise man to be a fool

54] He that promises too much means nothing

55] A rich miser is poorer than a poor man

56] Idle folks lack no excuses

57] Like master, like man

58] Old foxes want no tutors

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

60] Evil often triumphs but never conquers.

61] He laughs best who laughs last

62] A good heart conquers ill fortune

63] Bells call others, but themselves enter not in to the church

64] If things were to be done twice, all would be wise.

65] Kill two birds with one stone

66] Far from eye, far from heart

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

68] It is the beautiful bird which gets caged

69] When we sing, everybody hears us; when sigh, nobody hears us

70] Men strain at gnats and swallow camels

71] Charity covers a Multitude of sins

72] Kindness is the noblest weapon to conquer with.

73] Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth

74] A ragged colt may make a good horse.

75] The most high Good sees and bears; me neighbour knows, nothing, and yet is always finding fault.

76] Better a husband without love than a jealous husband

77] As well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamp

78] If Jack’s in love, he’s no judge of Jill’s beauty

79] In haste is error

80] It never rains it pours

81] Good counsel has no price. Nothing is given so freely as advice.

82] Don’t build the sty before the litter comes

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

84] Go to bed with the lamb, and rise with the lark

85] Men make houses, women make homes

86] One swallow does not make a summer

87] If it were not for hope, the heart would break

88] You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours

89] If you trust before you try, you may repent before you die

90] The joy of the heart makes the face fair.

91] Seek and you shall find

92] Empty vessels make the most noise

93] To the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. To a thirsty man any drink is sweet.

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

95] The great fish eat up the small

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

97] Parents are patterns

98] Change brings life

99] He that stumbles twice over one stone, deserves to break his shin

100] What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals