Famous Proverbs

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

2] Burn not your house to fright the mouse away

3] Empty vessels make the most sound

4] Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

5] Honesty is the best policy

6] Virtue has all things in itself

7] He that asks faintly begs a denial.

8] Never try to prove what nobody doubts

9] Easier said than done

10] Too many cooks spoil the broth

11] Four eyes see better than two.

12] The love of money is the root of all evil

13] Parents are patterns

14] If one sheep leaps o’er the dyke, all the rest will follow

15] When it pleases not God, the saint can do little

16] The purse of the patient protracts the disease

17] Bad excuses are worse than none.

18] Better go about than fall in to the ditch

19] A miss is as good as a mile

20] Better a little loss than a long sorrow

21] It is easy to do what one’s own self wills

22] From word to deed is a great space

23] A closed mouth catches no files

24] You cannot teach an old dog new tricks

25] He who hesitates is lost

26] Better bend than break

27] A fool believes everything

28] Anger makes a rich man hated, and a poor man scorned.

29] When in doubt, do nothing

30] You cannot teach an old dog new tricks

31] No remedy but patience

32] Keep conscience clear, then never fear

33] Why play the harp to a buffalo?

34] Make hay while the sun shines

35] When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then a gentleman?

36] Those near the temple deride the gods

37] There is many a true word spoken in jest

38] If God does not give us what we want, He gives us what we need

39] Little things please little minds

40] Expectation is better than realisation

41] Those who sell dog-meat often display a lamb’s head

42] The Friar Preached against stealing and had a goose in his sleeve

43] The wise forget an insult, as the ungrateful a kindness

44] Practice is the science that gives confidence

45] He that does most at once, does least

46] He who never was sick dies the first fit

47] The result justifies the deed

48] Diligence is the mother of good luck

49] A nod is as good as wink to a blind horse

50] Whether the pitcher strikes the stone, or the stone the pitcher, it is bad for the pitcher

51] Better late than never, but better never late

52] Don’t change horses in mid-stream

53] Misfortune makes foes of friends

54] Some have been thought brave because they are afraid to run away

55] The great would have none great, and the little all little

56] Hope is the poor man’s bread

57] A good lather is half the shave

58] There are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream.

59] What is brought by the wind will be carried away by the wind

60] The tyranny of a multitude is a multiplied tyranny

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

62] Discretion of speech is more than eloquence.

63] The child says nothing but what it hears by the fire

64] Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth

65] Who greases his way travels easily

66] Absence makes the heart grow fonder

67] He that mischief hatches mischief catches.

68] The best things in life are free

69] Haste trips up (or over) its own heels

70] A bad shearer never had a good sickle

71] Trusting often makes fidelity

72] The higher the mountain, the greater the descent

73] It is a great victory that comes without blood

74] A guilty conscience needs no accuser

75] The end makes all equal

76] Facts are stubborn things

77] Don’t put the cart before the horse

78] A good husband makes a good wife

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

80] Diseases are the price of ill pleasures

81] Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me

82] It is a foolish sheep that makes the wolf his confessor

83] It takes all sorts to make a world

84] Fling dirt enough, and some will stick

85] The tide never goes out so far but it always comes in again

86] Keep no more cats than will catch mice

87] He that travels far knows much

88] A creaking gate (or door) hangs long

89] Ready money is ready medicine

90] Live and let live

91] A good paymaster needs no surety

92] Man punishes the action but God the intention

93] Everything in moderation.

94] Laws catch flies but let hornets go free

95] Praise makes good men better and bad men worse

96] If today will not, tomorrow may

97] A willing helper does not wait until he is asked.

98] A good conscience is a soft pillow

99] A discontented man knows not where to sit easy

100] Truthfulness becomes the gentleman