Famous Proverbs

1] Work expands so as to fill the time available

2] That which proves too much proves nothing

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

4] Homer sometimes nods

5] The world is full of fools

6] New things are fair

7] A golden key opens every door

8] Good riding at two anchors, men have told, for if one breaks the other may hold

9] History repeats itself

10] There are two sides to every question

11] There is nothing permanent except change

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

13] Every man is his own worst enemy

14] Don’t take a bull in to a china shop.

15] While the word is in your mouth, it is your own; when ‘tis another’s

16] As soon as man is born, he begins to die

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

18] There is many a true word spoken in jest

19] None so deaf as those that will not hear

20] The rich knows not who is his friend

21] Truth is god’s daughter

22] Give us the tools, and we will finish the job

23] Cut your coat according to your cloth

24] Courtesy (Or Civility, or Politeness) costs nothing

25] It’s dogged that does it

26] Sadness and happiness succeed each other.

27] The pitcher goes so often to me well that it is broken at last

28] A woman’s work is never done

29] It is not gay coat that makes the gentleman

30] In everything consider the end

31] The end justifies the means

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

33] Seek and you shall find

34] The proof of the pudding lies in the eating

35] You cannot have your cake and eat it

36] He that fights and runs away may live to fight another day

37] Loyalty is worth more than money

38] Better be a fool than a knave

39] Curiosity is ill manners in another’s house

40] Take time by the forelock

41] He that cannot ask, cannot live

42] The absent saint gets no candle

43] When in doubt, do nothing

44] To refuse and to give tardily is all the same

45] The devil sometimes speaks the truth

46] A good paymaster needs no surety

47] The devil dances in an empty pocket

48] Fortune favours the brave (or bold).

49] Enough is as good as a feast

50] Patient men with the day.

51] He mediates revenge who least complains.

52] Waste not, want not

53] What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh

54] Do as the friar says, not as he does

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

56] He who gives to the unworthy loses doubly

57] True gold is not transformed by fire

58] You may know by a handful the whole sack

59] Pleasant hours fly past

60] Better children weep than old men

61] One man’s loss is another’s gain

62] Hope deferred makes the heart sick

63] Hazard not your wealth on a poor man’s advice

64] Men are not angles

65] Curiosity killed the cat.

66] What is the good of a sundial in the shade?

67] Much science, much sorrow

68] Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

69] He who serves is not free

70] Words are but wind

71] Truth conquers all things

72] Even the grubs in the rocks manage to survive

73] Praise without profit puts little in the pot

74] Strength grows stronger by being tried

75] The poorer one is, the more devils one meets

76] A good servant should never be in the way and never out of the way

77] The calmest husbands make the stormiest wives

78] Ill news comes unsent for.

79] Men do more things through habit than reason

80] The receiver is as bad as the thief

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

82] No man ever becomes thoroughly bad all at once

83] Love and business teach eloquence

84] There is no place like home

85] Waste is not grandeur

86] At open doors, dogs come in

87] In a gambling house, there are no fathers and sons.

88] Honest men marry soon, wise men not at all

89] Sometimes clemency is cruelty, and cruelty clemency

90] Take the tone of the company you are in

91] The dancing girl who could not dance, said that the hall was not big enough.

92] When in Rome, do as the Romans do

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

94] A tree often transplanted, bears not much fruit

95] He that loses anything and gets wisdom by it is a gainer by the loss

96] Young saint, old devil.

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

98] Don’t have too many irons in the fire

99] Water far away will not extinguish a fire that is nearby; relatives far from you are not as good as neighbours close to you.

100] Wishes can never fill a sack