Famous Proverbs

1] Exceptional bravery is often hidden under a cloak of timidity

2] Slow and steady wins the race

3] Comparisons are odious

4] Custom takes the taste from the most savoury dishes

5] Big words seldom go with good deeds

6] That which Nature paints never fades

7] Better the last smile than the first laugh

8] He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow

9] A good wife and health is a man’s best wealth

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

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

12] The borrower is servant to the lender

13] He has not lost all who has one cast left

14] Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still

15] Set a thief to catch a thief

16] Good company on the road is the shortest cut

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

18] Afflictions are sent to us by God for our good

19] Truth is god’s daughter

20] It is not work that kills but worry

21] Patient waiters are no losers

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

23] A rich miser is poorer than a poor man

24] If the father is spotted, the son will be speckled

25] There is many a good tune played on an old fiddle

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

27] A rolling stone gathers no moss

28] He that will eat the kernel, must crack the nut

29] Good words are worth much and cost little

30] A single filament of silk does not make a thread; a single tree does not make a forest

31] Catch your bear before you sell its skin

32] An evil life is a kind of death.

33] A forced kindness deserves no thanks

34] Giving much to the poor, doth enrich a man’s store.

35] Life is not all beer and skittles

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

37] To take revenge is often to sacrifice oneself

38] Talk much end err much

39] The first time, a novice the second time, an adept

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

41] It is too late to grieve when the chance is past

42] There are spots even in the sun

43] The proof of the pudding lies in the eating

44] Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!

45] God is a sure paymaster

46] Where your will is ready, your feet are light

47] Our neighbour’s ground yields better corn than ours

48] Danger makes men devout

49] Ambition makes people diligent

50] If he ball does not stick to the wall, it will at least leave a mark

51] The longest journey starts with a single step

52] Death devours lambs as well as sheep

53] Money gives a bold front: it doesn’t talk – it screams

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

55] A strong town is not won in an hour

56] It is ill striving (or swimming) against the stream (or tide)

57] Money breeds (or makes, or begets) money

58] What is new cannot be true

59] Worse things happen at sea

60] Zeal without prudence is frenzy

61] If every man would sweep before his own door, the city would soon be clean

62] Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

63] A jack of all traders is master of none

64] The longest way round is the shortest way home

65] Scatter with one hand, gather with two

66] Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

67] Children have wide ears and long tongues.

68] Nothing befalls any man which he is not fitted to endure

69] God arms the harmless

70] The game is not worth the candle

71] He who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning

72] Sweet are the uses of adversity

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

74] Pleasant hours fly past

75] Marry in haste, repent at leisure

76] Much science, much sorrow

77] Half an egg is better than empty shell

78] New brooms sweep clean

79] It’s hard to get one’s own sword back when it’s in someone else’s scabbard

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

81] Excessive happiness produces pain

82] The dog is a lion in his own house

83] Don’t change horses in mid-stream

84] When you know there are tigers on the hills, don’t go there

85] The noblest vengeance is to forgive

86] A man must plough with such oxen as he has

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

88] Many would be cowards, if they had courage enough

89] When a friend asks, there is not tomorrow

90] Without luck, it is better not to be born

91] The least boy always carries the greatest fiddle

92] Laugh and grow fat

93] A drowning man will clutch at a straw

94] An empty sack cannot stand upright

95] Good fame is better than a good face

96] The cobbler should stick to his last

97] A closed mouth catches no files

98] To fright a bird is not the way to catch her

99] What will not money do?

100] No man can serve two masters