Famous Proverbs

1] Call no man happy till he is dead

2] Ale will make a cat speak

3] When you drink water from the stream, don’t forget that the source of it is the spring

4] Six feet of earth make all men equal

5] When the boat reaches the middle of the river, it is too late to repair the leak

6] Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny

7] To err is human

8] Every one thinks his own sack heaviest

9] Ask a silly question and you’ll get a silly answer.

10] Tie a chicken with an elephant rope, and it will slip off; tie an elephant with a chicken-tether, and it will break away.

11] Opportunity seldom knocks twice

12] If you have bread, don’t look for cake

13] Give and take is fair play

14] It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive

15] Beauty is but skin-deep

16] Don’t make yourself a mouse, or the cat will eat you

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

18] Mount Fuji itself is not So beautiful to one who is cold and hungry

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

20] Beggars must not (can’t) be choosers

21] If one sheep leaps over the ditch (or dyke), all the rest will follow

22] When a dwarf ascends a staircase, he gets higher every step

23] The poor suffer all the wrong

24] We should publish our joys and conceal our griefs

25] Acorns were good till bread was found

26] Mustard is a good sauce, but mirth is better

27] None but the brave deserves the fair

28] Honesty is ill to thrive by

29] What one loses (or you lose) on the swings, one makes up (or you gain) on the roundabouts

30] Fish and guests smell in three days

31] Poverty obstructs the road to virtue

32] A good name is sooner lost than won

33] Though the left hand conquers the right, no advantage is gained

34] One today is worth two tomorrows

35] He who lives with cats will get a taste for mice

36] Goodness is better than beauty

37] Our worst misfortunes are those which never befall us

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

39] A fool’s bolt is soon shot

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

41] God makes the back for the burden

42] Do not halloo till you are out of the wood

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

44] The proof of the pudding lies in the eating

45] Might overcome right.

46] Tempt not a desperate man

47] When fortune smiles, embrace her.

48] The first blow is half the battle

49] Take time by the forelock

50] If one sheep leaps over the ditch (or dyke), all the rest will follow

51] Sooner begun, sooner done

52] Little by little and bit by bit.

53] Mount Fuji itself is not So beautiful to one who is cold and hungry

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

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

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

57] Kind hearts are more than coronets

58] The falling drops hollow the stone

59] First thrive then wive

60] Only a fool will make the doctor his heir

61] Wise men do not argue with idiots

62] Words have wings, and cannot be recalled

63] The best things are hard to come by.

64] If you run after two hares, you will catch neither

65] Facts are stubborn things

66] Necessity breaks iron

67] Money can influence even the spirits

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

69] He is a fool that makes a hammer of his fist

70] It is easy to move rivers and mountains, but difficult to change a person’s basic nature

71] When angry, count a hundred

72] Love will go through stone walls

73] If the doctor cures, the sun sees it; but if he kills, the earth hides it.

74] The fairest silk is soonest stained

75] Birds once snared fear all bushes

76] He that does most at once, does least

77] None can guess the jewel by the casket

78] To teach is to learn twice over

79] Two wrongs do not make a right

80] He has to do what is foul, never comes away clean

81] Work has a bitter root but sweet fruit.

82] Better do a kindness near home than go to a temple far away to burn incense.

83] Laugh and grow fat

84] There is no time like the present

85] Where there’s a will there’s a way

86] Dumb dogs are dangerous

87] Lovers are madmen

88] A heavy purse makes a light heart

89] Look on the bright side

90] The lone sheep is in danger of the wolf

91] No convenience without its inconvenience

92] Bad excuses are worse than none.

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

94] The devil knows many things because he is old

95] Friends are thieves of time

96] No man ever becomes thoroughly bad all at once

97] It is not work that kills but worry

98] Industry is fortune’s right hand, and frugality her left

99] Least said, soonest mended

100] The good intention excuses the bad action