Famous Proverbs

1] Hard words break no bones

2] A lion may come to be beholden to a mouse

3] The great fish eat up the small

4] He that borrows must pay again with shame or loss

5] With constancy of purpose, you can file a steel rod in to the needle you need

6] Every beginning is hard

7] It is a good tongue that says no ill, and a better heart that thinks none

8] Hitch your wagon to a star

9] Virtue is a jewel of great price.

10] Past cure, past care

11] To study a great deal is to acquire a priceless treasure

12] Every man has the defects of his own virtues (or qualities)

13] Fools rejoice at promises

14] Give a clown your finger, and he will take your hand

15] When one door shuts, another opens

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

17] Zeal is fit only for wise men, but is found mostly in fools

18] If the thorn falls, the leaf is pierced; if the leaf falls the leaf is pierced

19] Truth is stranger than fiction

20] Don’t stitch your seam before you’ve tacked it.

21] Like question, like answer.

22] Empty vessels make the most sound

23] He is wise who looks ahead

24] An angry man is not fit to pray

25] Light burden I heavy if far borne

26] Share and share alike

27] Better a husband without love than a jealous husband

28] A burthen of one’s own choice is not felt

29] If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas

30] Silence never makes mistakes

31] The blind man is not afraid of ghosts

32] There are more foolish buyers than foolish sellers

33] In wine there is truth

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

35] Either mend or end

36] Fortune knocks once at everyone’s door (or gate)

37] Fool’s haste is no speed

38] Poverty parts friendship

39] Misfortune makes foes of friends

40] It is not every question that deserves an answer

41] Vows made in storms are forgotten in calm

42] Give me fire and I’ll give you light

43] He that has a good memory, gives few alms

44] Worry is the interest we pay on trouble before it is due

45] Comparisons make enemies of our friends.

46] Red ink gives what it touches a pink glow; black ink gives what it touches a dirty stain.

47] No answer is also an answer

48] The shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot.

49] A little help is worth a deal of pity

50] New lords, new laws

51] A hungry man is angry man

52] Work expands so as to fill the time available

53] He freezes who does not burn

54] He that lives wickedly can hardly die honestly

55] The wisest of the wise may err.

56] Hungry bellies have no ears

57] Make yourself all honey and the flies will devour you

58] Don’t ask a blind man which is the right way

59] Nothing is easy to the unwilling

60] When the cat is away, the mice will play

61] Repeat a piece of good advice three times and even a dog will be bored.

62] It is profound ignorance that inspires the dogmatic tone

63] Be careful to whom you give

64] Don’t play with edged tools

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

66] The greatest step is that out of doors

67] We have all been once in our life

68] Live not to eat, but eat to live

69] Exchange is no robbery

70] He that gives his goods before he be dead, take up a mallet and knock him on the head

71] A useful trade is a mine of gold

72] Almost’ never killed a fly.

73] You see a man’s face but not his heart.

74] Jackdaw always perches by jackdaw.

75] What we spent, we had; what we gave, we have: what we left, we lost

76] He conquers who endures

77] Water is a boon in the desert, but the drowning man curses it.

78] At the end of the game, the king and pawn go in to the same bag.

79] The world is full of fools

80] Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist

81] Tomorrow is another day

82] When the ear will not listen, the heart escapes sorrow

83] Repentance is a bitter physic

84] A wise man will learn something even from the words of a fool

85] It is easier to commend poverty than endure it.

86] A horse that will not carry a saddle must have no oats.

87] Haste makes waste

88] Great trees keep down the little ones

89] Content is more than a kingdom

90] Many irons in the fire, some must cool

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

92] If you sing before breakfast, you’ll cry before night

93] He that would eat the kernel must crack the nut

94] Death keeps no calendar

95] Wedlock is padlock

96] The cobbler’s children are always the worst shod

97] All’s fish that comes to the net

98] There is no smoke without fire

99] Goodness is better than beauty

100] At the game’s end we shall see who gains