Famous Proverbs

1] You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear

2] When I lent, I was a friend; and when I asked, I was unkind

3] Rome was not built in a day

4] Honesty is ill to thrive by

5] Quietness is a great treasure

6] No convenience without its inconvenience

7] The longest (or farthest) way round is the nearest (or shortest) way home.

8] Wise men learn by other men’s harms (or mistakes), fools, by their own

9] Shame in a kindred cannot be avoided

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

11] He that flings dirt at another dirtieth himself most

12] Hope deferred makes the heart sick

13] New lords, new laws

14] He who can wait obtains what he wishes.

15] An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

16] A man in debt is caught in a net

17] God is always on the side of the big battalions

18] Every ass likes to hear himself bray

19] Like will to like

20] One barber shaves another gratis

21] Words and feathers the wind carries away

22] Ask no question and you’ll be told no lies

23] Every medal has its reverse

24] Do as I say, not as I do

25] It is useless to flog a dead horse

26] The age of miracles is past

27] All things that great men do are well done

28] Nothing is more contagious than a bad example

29] A pot that belongs to many is ill stirred and worse boiled

30] Friendship should not be all on one side

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

32] Zeal without prudence is frenzy

33] Wrong never comes right

34] The faulty stands on his guard

35] Everybody’s business is nobody’s business

36] What will not money do?

37] Do not triumph before the victory

38] The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man

39] The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts

40] Train the child in the way he should go.

41] Give a dog a bad name and hang him

42] Rats know the ways of rats

43] Sorrow will pay no debt

44] There are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it

45] The highest tree has the greatest fall

46] Better late than never

47] We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.

48] With wealth, you are as grand as a dragon; without wealth you are as insignificant as a worm.

49] Diseases are the price of ill pleasures

50] Fair is not fair, but that which pleases.

51] Kindness is the noblest weapon to conquer with.

52] Misfortunes find their way even on the darkest night

53] A rolling stone gathers no moss

54] Children speak only words they have heard.

55] A thief knows a thief knows a thief as a wolf knows a wolf

56] While there is life, there is hope

57] Shame in a kindred cannot be avoided

58] Send a donkey to Paris, he’ll return no wiser than he went

59] Vice makes virtue shine

60] Grief pent up will break the heart

61] Even though one’s aunt sells the cakes, one will not buy unless they are cheap.

62] Nothing is so popular as kindness.

63] Actions speak louder than words

64] What is new cannot be true

65] Wives must be had, be they good or bad

66] He that serves well need not be afraid to ask his wages

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

68] Beware of no man more than himself

69] If you agree to carry the calf, they’ll make you carry the cow.

70] Rain water leaks through the roof-top

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

72] Anger without power is folly

73] Even a clever wife cannot prepare a meal when there is no food

74] The heart soon forgets what the eye sees not

75] The knowledge of a learned man is limited if he stays at home all the time

76] A man’s in his own mouth stinks

77] Let like mate with like

78] The unexpected always happens.

79] The worst wheel of the cart creaks most

80] Dying is as natural as living

81] Never too late to learn

82] It is n time to stoop when the head is off.

83] Fortune knocks once at every man’s door

84] Every dog is valiant at his won door

85] No playing with a straw before an old cat.

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

87] Let sleeping dogs lie

88] A prophet is without honour in his own country

89] Kill two birds with one stone

90] You cannot serve God and Mammon

91] Do as most men do, then most men well speak well of you

92] Honey is sweet, but the bee stings

93] Catch not at the shadow and lose the substance

94] It is no use spoiling the ship for a half penny worth of tar

95] The longest journey starts with a single step

96] Vast chasms can be filled, but the heart of man never

97] Four eyes see more than two

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

99] A crust is better than no bread.

100] Nothing costs so much as what is given us